Upstate Shredding-Weitsman Announces Major Expansion to Owego Metal Recycling Operation

By Paul Ploumis

ALBANY (Scrap Monster): Owego, New York-based Upstate Shredding-Weitsman Recycling has announced plans to make huge investment in installing state-of-the art shredder equipment to expand metal recycling operations at the recently purchased Owego site. The planned construction of a new heavy media plant is expected to cost around $7.5 million. The company press release stated that formal ground breaking ceremony will be held this. The new plant is expected to become fully operational by end of this year. The multi-million dollar investment will create 25 new full-time jobs in the Southern Tier region.

Upstate Shredding has received assistance of $1 million in terms of grant awarded earlier this year from the the state of New York’s Empire State Development (ESD) fund. Apart from this, the project will be funded fully by private sources.

The facility is being built in the 3.5 acre former 84 Lumber site that the company had purchased earlier this year. The plant will be enclosed in a new 20,000 square foot building. The plant will include new technology that is being introduced in the US for the first time. The new technology will be capable of processing shredder-generated zorba in order to separate out aluminum from heavy metals such as copper, brass and zinc.

Adam Weitsman, owner of Upstate Shredding stated that the plant would employ advanced magnetic and sensor technology purchased from SGM Magnetics. He noted that the media plant would help prevent material shipments to China. He said that the technology will revolutionize the scrap and shredding business in the country. Currently, the materials are shipped to other countries including China where they are hand-sorted. The new system will be able to process up to 15 tons of zorba per hour which will be used to produce high quality commodities. The materials from the company’s shredder facilities in Owego and New Castle, Pennsylvania will be fed to the new plant. Also, the company plans to purchase materials from outside sources throughout North America, Weitsman added.

Meantime, Ernesto Tirado, SGM Magnetics engineering manager expressed the company’s gratitude to Upstate Shredding for selecting them as the technology solutions provider. Apart from supplying the equipment, SGM Magnetics will be in charge of building the entire facility in tie-up with equipment fabrication major US Conveyor Technologies, located in Mackinaw, Illinois.

Upstate Shredding-Weitsman Recycling was recently selected as the ‘Scrap Company of the Year’ by American Metal Market (AMM), for the second consecutive time. Also, the company was recently named the winner of the ‘Industry Leadership Award in the Scrap & Recycling’ by the business information company Platts as part of its Global Metals Awards program.

About Upstate Shredding-Weitsman Recycling

Upstate Shredding-Weitsman Recycling is the largest privately held scrap metal processor on the East Coast, operating 18 locations throughout New York and Pennsylvania. The company has a number of locations in northeastern United States, including two facilities in both Owego and Ithaca, as well as locations in Binghamton, Brant, Jamestown, Hornell, Rochester, Syracuse, Watertown, Albany and Allegany, New York; and Scranton and New Castle, Pennsylvania. It is one of the top recycling companies of the world.