Car Shredder's Foundation Down

Dozens of trucks began lining up Aug. 5 between Mansfield, Ohio and Shelby, Ohio. The trucks were filled with tons of gravel and cement. They unloaded 600 cubic yards of concrete for a new auto shredder.

"We'll have 50 truckloads when we're finished," said Karl Milliron, manager of Milliron Industries' auto recycling division. "We started at 5:45 a.m. and by 10 a.m. they were just finishing up."

The new concrete will provide a base for a 6,000-horsepower metal shredder that can process up to 80 cars an hour.

"It's basically a huge hammer mill," Milliron said.

The machine, when installed, will separate vehicles into ferrous metals that can be sold to steel mills. It also will separate stainless steel and aluminum -- which can be recycled. The final unusable portion of the car, called fluff, will be taken to a landfill.

Company owner Grant Milliron expects the shredder to be running by the end of the year.

Already, several thousand old autos are lined up at Milliron.

"Those won't last long at all," Karl Milliron said. "They're mostly going to be used for the start-up, to calibrate it."

The shredder is part of a long-term plan to keep Milliron competitive.

"It's crucial for the survival of the company," Karl Milliron said. "We had to do it to keep our workers employed."

The new shredder had caused controversy in and around Jackson Township. Neighbors raised concerns about noise, dust and other pollutants. But voters passed a ballot referendum in November 2001, giving approval for rezoning to allow the shredder.

The Ohio EPA has imposed more stringent regulations on Milliron than it had imposed on similar facilities already up and running. The facility is the first in the state required to remove accessible mercury switches from automobiles before shredding.

"I think we're the poster child for Ohio EPA when it comes to shredders," Karl Milliron said. Mansfield (Ohio) News Journal