Upstate Shredding Opening Feeder Yard in Pennsylvania

Upstate Shredding recently announced plans to open a new facility in Scranton, Pa. The new facility, expected to cost around $6 million, will be used as a feeder yard for Upstate Shredding’s auto shredder in Owego, N.Y. The facility is expected to be around 100,000 square feet. The new facility is expected to employ roughly 20 people when it is fully operational.

Upstate has a number of processing facilities throughout the New York state area.

Upstate Shredding is the largest privately owned scrap company on the East Coast, but has never really had a presence in Pennsylvania.  Weitsman, the founder of the company, however, has sought to have a Pennsylvania presence, likes Scranton as an area overall, but also likes that it is in close proximity to the new 10,000 HP 450 ton per hour mega shredder (largest in the United States) located in Owego, NY.  This new shredder replaces the 6,000 HP 250 ton per hour shredder.  The new Scranton facility will help expand the company’s trade with scrap yards regionally and statewide as well as draw business from New Jersey.

While Upstate has not yet indicated where the facility will be sited, representatives from the company say that the company will continue to be a “good corporate and environmental citizen, same as it has always been in New York. Mr. Weitsman (president of Upstate Shredding) has always been dedicated to staying ahead of State and Federal regulations in regards to environmental protection and this new facility will be treated no different.

In a recent news article, a county official in New York where Upstate presently operates confirms that the company has been a good corporate citizen. “They’ve been conscientious in the community,” said Doug Barton, Tioga County’s (NY) director of economic development and planning.

The facility is expected to be operational by this coming summer. While it will be used as a feeder yard, the company will have an assortment of processing equipment at the site, including two mobile shears, three Sennebogen cranes and an HRB baler.

Because the location has not been officially announced, the company has not indicated whether the new facility will be a Greenfield operation or use an existing site. Also, the company would not indicate whether or not the new plant would have rail access.

Meanwhile, the company is in the middle of a significant update at its Owego, N.Y., plant that will include a large auto shredder that should result in an increase in the demand for raw material to feed the plant. (For more about Upstate Shredding, read the cover profile of the company that appeared in the September issue of Recycling Today. )