SA Recycling’s ‘hungry beast’ can devour a car in seconds
“She’s a hungry beast,” said Phillip Johnson, regional environmental health and safety manager for SA Recycling.
He’s describing SA Recycling’s Auto Shredder, which can shred a car in 2-3 seconds.
Aside from large metals, SA Recycling also processes paper, cardboard and plastics.
SA Recycling works with various entities, such as railroads, water departments and power departments, Johnson said. Some major casinos also have boxes where they put discarded metal.
For Brandon Smith, regional general manager for SA Recycling, the job has made him look at the world with a green state of mind.
“Everytime I throw away, it costs me money,” Smith said. “I make money and save money on the material I don’t ship to a landfill.”
SA Recycling processes large objects outside every day, but the little things inside the office are also a priority.
It’s not just paper recycling or metal recycling, but also simple things like refilling an ink cartridge, Johnson said.
Why is being green so important?
To make things better for our environment, for ourselves and for our families. Green is more than just the recycling, it’s an attitude of ‘Let’s find a way to do it better in the long run.’ It almost always saves money. Now green is all about reusing what we have and protecting Mother Earth. We work hard at finding ways to conserve.
How can going green improve productivity?
Through efficiency, the more we focus on natural resources. There are all kinds of ways that people don’t think about becoming green; it’s all about the attitude. Becoming more green is a win-win.
What influenced your decision to pursue green practices?
It was natural for us because we’ve been in this business for so many years. We’re changing our practices, things we’re doing in our offices. It’s a constant learning process.
How has being green reshaped your company’s perception?
We were junkyards, then we were scrap yards, now we’re recycling centers. We try to remove that old stigma from junkyards. We want you to come into our facility and see that we’re environmentally friendly and customer-conscious.
— Alexander Corey/Las Vegas Business Press
