American Cast Iron Pipe Company Upgrades Recycling Center

American Cast Iron Pipe Company (ACIPCO), Birmingham, Ala., has completed a $4.5 million upgrade of its ACIPCO Recycling division, which the company says is the largest recycling facility of its kind in Alabama.

ACIPCO Recycling, which opened in 1991, shreds and recycles old automobiles, white goods, aluminum cans and other metal products. The recycled metal is used to make ACIPCO’s 20-foot-long ductile iron pipe, which is sold to water districts across the United States.

ACIPCO Recycling has added a new 6,000-hp drive motor to replace an older 4,000-hp motor on its shredder, which should allow for a 15 percent increase in the company’s processing capacity. ACIPCO has also added sound-reducing enclosures around its equipment..

“The upgrades will allow us to continue to be the largest and most convenient recycling facility in Alabama,” Van Richey, president and CEO of ACIPCO, says. “We are committed to taking old cars and appliances that could end up in one of Alabama’s 42 landfills or dumped illegally in neighborhoods and turning that metal into something of value—pipe that provides clean water in the United States and around the world.”

Other improvements at ACIPCO Recycling include a new access road off of Daniel Payne Drive that will reduce truck traffic in the area. The road connects to two new weigh stations.

Founded in 1905, ACIPCO manufactures a diversified product line for the waterworks, capital goods and energy industries. Products include ductile iron pipe and fittings, ductile iron castings, fire hydrants, valves, fire truck pumps, centrifugally cast steel tubes, static steel castings, fabricated assemblies, Electric Resistance Welded (ERW) steel pipe and spiral-welded steel pipe.

ACIPCO employs approximately 3,000 people nationwide, including 2,400 people in Birmingham. ACIPCO facilities are also located in Alabaster, Ala.; Columbia, S.C.; Beaumont, Tex.; St. Paul, Minn.; Phoenix, Ariz.; and Pryor, Okla.