Empire Recycling to Open Indoor Metals Facility

Empire Recycling, a recycling company headquartered in Utica, N.Y., has received approval to open a metals recycling facility in an idled Watertown, N.Y., building. The facility, expected to open this spring, will service both peddler and industrial accounts.

Executive Vice President Ed Kowalsky says the purchase of the “vintage World War II 75,000-square-foot building” will allow the company to process both ferrous and nonferrous metals indoors.

According to published reports, Empire had expressed interest several years ago in opening a new facility in the Watertown area, but the costs to construct a facility were too cost-prohibitive.

Locating a metals processing facility indoors will create less of an environmental impact for the company, Kowalsky says. Additionally, with inclement weather in the area for much of the year, locating a yard inside is expected to offer a more effective, efficient processing environment.

The main section of the building, measuring 50,000 square feet, provides ample room for processing metals, Kowalsky adds. While some renovation will be required, structural changes aren’t anticipated. According to Kowalsky, facility equipment will include mobile shears, excavators and skid steer loaders.

In a related development, the company has acquired Perkins Scrap Metal, a Watertown scrap metal firm. Kowalsky says Perkins has been associated with Empire Recycling for several years.

The Watertown facility will be Empire's eighth location in New York. In addition to operating scrap metal recycling facilities, Empire operates a paper recycling division, a confidential document destruction service and an electronics recycling facility.