Full Contribution

Born into the scrap business, Larry Sax has never stopped contributing to the industry or taking on new roles when asked.

When GIE Media launched Recycling Today Global Edition in 2008, group publisher James R. Keefe identified scrap recycling veteran Larry Sax as someone who could make a valuable contribution to the new publication.

In his role as a consulting editor, Larry Sax brought instant credibility to the publication’s commodity reports. Larry used his network of friends and industry contacts to gather information on the status of secondary commodity markets around the world.

From 2008 until early this year, Larry not only stayed in touch with long-time trading partners and colleagues, but also made new friends and contacts along the way.

With its March/April 2012 issue, Recycling Today Global Edition introduced a new format to its commodity report section.

As Larry Sax begins to accept new consulting roles and assignments, Recycling Today Global Edition Editorial Director Brian Taylor interviewed Larry Sax about his decades of services to the scrap recycling industry.


Recycling Today Global Edition (RTGE): How did you get started in the scrap industry?

Larry Sax (LS): When I was very young we lived in a house in Chelsea, Massachusetts, and the business, J. Sax and Co., was operated out of the back yard. Chelsea (near Boston) was home to a lot of scrap and rag dealers then. I always say as a child my playground was the scrap yard. I used to help my grandfather sort metals.

J. Sax & Co. belonged to my uncle; but my grandfather Benjamin Sax really started the business. My Uncle George joined the company in the late 1930s. Right before World War II, my dad Max Sax joined the company.

At the beginning of my presentation to the NARI (National Association of Recycling Industries) Copper Roundtable in New York in 1980, I started by describing industry changes up to that time. I remember describing my grandfather sitting on a box scraping insulation off of copper wire with a knife.

After World War II, the business moved to Boston and there were new trucks and cranes. I really loved being around the equipment and learning how to operate it. I really enjoyed being around the family business and I never wanted to do anything else—except maybe be a baseball player.

I have always wanted to represent the industry with the highest standards possible, to prove it’s a very important industry to the economy of our communities and our country.

Now my son David is fourth-generation member of the scrap industry. I am really proud of him and his accomplishments at Commercial Metals Co. of Irving, Texas. I’m happy he has carried on the family tradition. I think I helped him to get started, but he has learned a lot on his own in his years at Commercial Metals. I’m very pleased and happy about that and I’m sure his grandfather and uncles and great-grandfather would be very proud of him too.


RTGE: How many different roles did you play in the industry, and what aspect of the job did you most enjoy?

LS: I started with sorting and then went to running equipment, being a truck driver and a crane operator. Then as a fairly young man, my uncle took me to brass mills in Connecticut and I got to know the people there, and he turned over some of the selling and trading to me.

I really learned a lot from people at brass mills who were mentors to me. I later did full-scale recycling with plastics and paper and other materials at WTE Corp. I also went to work in the aluminium industry on the consuming side at Barmet, and I’ve often had active roles in trade associations.

The first job interview I ever had was when seeking the job at Barmet—or at least the first interview where I wasn’t doing the interviewing. That position led to several others on the aluminum side as companies in that sector were bought and sold, so I also worked for Castech Aluminum and Easco, an aluminum extrusion company based in Girard, Ohio.

It turned out I enjoyed trading from the consuming side, and I found there were a lot of things on the aluminium side that my copper trading mentality helped me with, such as working from spreads off the LME, freight swaps and differentials.

Also some of the swapping in my copper days—such as swapping a load of scrap for a load of cathode, then maybe swapping that for zinc—translated to my new jobs. I knew the scrap trading techniques and could bring that knowledge to the consumer side.

And I appreciate the opportunity and really enjoyed doing what I did for Recycling Today Global Edition. I’m rooting for its success and I feel like it’s a product that I helped in its infancy to nurture and at least get it into junior high school.
 

Next Up

Larry Sax currently lives in Ontario, Canada, and is ready to assist recyclers there or anywhere else in the world who can benefit from his industry experience and his ability to open doors through his network of industry contacts.

“I’d like to consult and help people where I can with different problems that they have,” says Larry. “I think I can be helpful working with younger people or people who are newer to the industry,” he adds, noting that he has benefitted from both sides of mentoring-based relationships.

“I was very fortunate and I’d like to give back,” he comments. “I had several people from brass mills take me under their wing so I could learn how they do things.” He adds. “Subsequently, I was able to do some of that myself. I’m a great believer in what comes around goes around.”

Those interested in contacting Larry about a project can reach him at +613-392-4167 or hollysax@hotmail.com.

RTGE: How did you get involved in the Bureau of International Recycling (BIR), and what aspects of international trading intrigued you?

LS: I was involved with NARI in the United States for many years, including being a national officer. I was part of the merger committee that led to the creation of ISRI—when NARI merged with the Institute of Scrap Iron and Steel (ISIS).

I thought it was important to be involved with BIR when J. Sax and Co. started increasing our level of international trading.

Making friends with people from all over the world was a real pleasure. Whatever I did for the trade associations to make them better, I felt I was rewarded by making friends and learning more about the industry on a worldwide basis.

I always enjoyed being on these boards and remembering that people are paying dues and that I had a fiduciary and moral responsibility to give them what they want as services. 


RTGE: What advice do you have for people who are just entering the industry or who are considering entering the scrap industry?

LS: I think to make friends and always keep your word. Always respect your trading partners and always represent high-quality material.

If and when you can, visit consumers and get to know their problems and what they go through and how they look at things from their end. Also, visit other scrap yards to see how they do things.

A unique thing for me was the fact with competitors and with consumers who in theory could take advantage of me, instead I got some very good and true advice to help me understand the business and to advance in the business. That’s probably why I’ve been able to look out for other people who come along.

I encourage people to be active in the trade associations. It’s a good way to make friends and to learn exactly what’s going on in the industry.

Realize the importance of the industry you represent. In international business, remember that the other person has plenty of intelligence and have respect for their intelligence.

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