20 largest ferrous scrap processors: the nation's largest ferrous scrap recyclers vie to feed the world's hunger for metal

Recycling Today, April, 2004 by Brian Taylor

Large shredder yards in Portland, Oakland and Tacoma, Wash., are where much of the ferrous scrap processing rakes place. Some of this scrap is exported to Asian destinations, while some is prepared for domestic mills, including the company's Cascade Rolling Mills division, which makes steel rod, wire and rebar.

Some of the company's scrap operations are joint ventures with Hugo Neu Corp. that extend the company's reach into the eastern half of the U.S.

A recent company effort to reach deeper into the scrap stream involves ownership of auto dismantling subsidiary PNP (Pick-N-Pull) Auto Parts.

Figures from the company's most recently completed financial quarter reflect the strong markets for ferrous scrap and for finished steel. Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc. reported net income of $12.2 million on revenue of $128.4 million, compared to net income of $2.9 million on revenue of $90.7 million from the same time the previous year.

PSC Metals is the operating name now used by the metals recycling division of Philip Services Corp. The PSC Metals division is also based in the Great Lakes region of the U.S., with its corporate office in Cleveland.

The company's operations are more dispersed, with facilities in both northern and central Ohio as well as in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Missouri and Illinois.

Much like Metal Management, PSC Metals was formed during the consolidation wave of the 1990s. Some of the company's facilities trace back to the Luria and Luntz organizations in Ohio and the Steiner-Liff and Southern Foundry companies in Tennessee.

Parent company Philip Services has twice been in bankruptcy, with the first time occurring in 1999 and 2000. The company just re-emerged in January from its second reorganization under bankruptcy terms, having filed under Chapter 11 rules in June of 2003.

One of the most wide-reaching names in scrap belongs to the David J. Joseph Co. (DJJ), Cincinnati. The company's trans-oceanic brokerage service reaches into most parts of the world. And in North America, it has built a powerful ferrous processing business centered on auto shredding operations divided into three regional operating units.

River Metals Recycling processes some 700,000 tons of ferrous scrap annually in Kentucky, while Trademark Recycling handles a similar amount in the state of Florida. Outwest, Western Metals Recycling is another DJJ operating unit.

In 1975, the company was purchased by a Dutch holding company called SHV Holdings. In addition to processing scrap, DJJ also brokers large amounts of scrap and offers complimentary logistical, transportation and industrial services.

Pittsburgh is the traditional Steel City and the home of AMG Resources Corp. The AMG stands for Allan M. Goldstein, who grew up as the son of a scrap dealer, became an attorney, but then found himself returning to the scrap world as the CEO of a company that is built around detinning facilities and ferrous recovery from the solid waste stream.

AMG processed more than 1.8 million tons of ferrous scrap in 2003, with some of that scrap going through the de-tinning process at U.S. plants in Pittsburgh, Baltimore and in Gary, Ind.