The beating heart of our recycling operation is the shredder, one of only a handful of its size in the Pacific Northwest. You can think of this process as manufacturing in reverse, or demanufacturing. This series of systems efficiently downsizes and automatically separates metallic from non-metallic materials. Whole automobiles, appliances, and any other light-gauge commercial, industrial, and consumer goods are fed via conveyor into the shredding chamber where a series of high-velocity hammers break the material into pieces about the size of a baseball or smaller. This process is driven by two large electric motors with a combined 4,000 horsepower, and in the case of a whole automobile takes less than a minute. With impressive efficiency, the shredder can process up to 140 net tons of material per hour. That’s the equivalent of about 90 cars! Once the material is broken down, it is automatically sorted by type and size, resulting in clean, dense, uniform metals ready for melting and manufacturing into new products.

While the shredder handles the bulk of our material processing, we employ a variety of specialized equipment and skilled workers to process many other materials. Heavier steel such as plate or machinery is broken down by torch or shear, and a vast array of non-ferrous materials are cleaned and sorted by hand. Regardless of the method, we take pride in producing exceptional value and quality for our partners.