Golden rule: fair treatment, courtesy and honesty are at the heart of the McAvoy family's Industrial Metal Recycling company - Cover Story

Recycling Today, July, 2003 by Brian Taylor

According to Peter, the Maine DEP agreed to accept a fixed dollar amount contribution from PRPs with no admission of responsibility. In almost all cases, it probably was a fraction of what is normally spent on legal fees alone, he notes.

At the project's completion, the city of Brewer had some funds remaining to partially fund the cost of creating an athletic field on the old site, but not enough to complete it.

"Together, everyone worked to complete one of the Northeast's first brownfield developments," says Peter. "Today, there is a beautiful park, complete with a baseball field and jogging and walking trail. Being part of this project is one of our proudest accomplishments," he adds.

In 1995, the company added a location in Arundel, a town in southern Maine. Business from that location has grown steadily, notes Peter, nearly matching volumes processed at the original Oakland facility.

And in 1999, Industrial Metal Recycling purchased an existing scrap facility in Augusta, Maine's capital. This yard is located in an historic, gentrifying neighborhood, so the McAvoys are already working with Augusta officials to re-locate to land purchased near the city's landfill.

Each of the locations serves as a processing and shipping center for scrap collected in Industrial Metal roll-off containers at industrial and demolition sites. Each also now has a thriving scale trade, which wasn't always part of the Industrial Metal plan, Peter concedes. "We didn't even have a scale trade [at first] and we weren't looking for one," he remarks.

"In late 1987 we finally put a scale in at our Oakland facility," recalls Peter. "As soon as we put the scale in and word got out, the retail business just took off."

Once again, Peter points to Golden Rule thinking that helped set the company apart. "We have a price list and handouts on how to prepare scrap, and a large price display in the window," he notes. "When I went to other scrap yards, I'd see things that would frustrate me: Customers waiting an hour and having to drive through mud up to their bumpers to drop off scrap. We looked at things and made mental notes of what it would take to make people as happy as possible to come into the scrap yard. We've tried to build a company from that point of view--get them in and out quickly and treat them fairly. It's not intimidating to come here."

The company has taken similar measures to be courteous and customer-focused on the scrap sales side as well. While acknowledging that he feels loyalty toward domestic mills and keeping them competitive, he also says that he has always strived to treat export brokers from China and other nations as equal customers.

"When Chinese buyers first came into the market, they weren't always treated like desired guests at some other companies," Peter remarks. "I would hear stories about them buying loads and getting large quantities of dirt along with their scrap. People did not treat them very well. My theory is, everyone is equal. We treated them with respect, took them to our facilities, went over specifications; we developed a trust with those buyers."