A changing landscape

On the following pages, Recycling Today presents our 2018 list and map of auto shredders installations in the United States. We would like to thank SGM Magnetics, with North American headquarters in Bradenton, Florida, for sponsoring this year’s edition of our biennial list.

If one were to compare this version of Recycling Today’s list and map with the one we produced in 2016, one would see the landscape looks a bit different today. In 2016, 15 shredders on our list were idled compared with 12 today. The total number of shredders also has increased from 274 shredders in 2016 to 291 this year. And three new installations are underway or expected to begin before year’s end. (Though one of those installations, Northern Metal Recycling’s plant planned for Becker, Minnesota, will replace the company’s current plant in Minneapolis, which has been cited for air-quality violations by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. The company reached a settlement in 2017 to pay $2.5 million for the violations and agreed to move its operations out of Minneapolis by 2019.)

At 291 shredders, the number of plants in operation in the U.S. remains slightly below the high of 297 shredders that were reported in 2014.

If you are aware of a shredder that is missing from this list, please contact DeAnne Toto via email at dtoto@gie.net with the details.