“Earn some green and sell it to a local scrap metal dealer,” the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection declared last January. With two old steel filing cabinets and a pair of barbells to unload, my husband, Toby, and I thought that good advice. After all, why dump something in a landfill when you can get paid for keeping it out.
We learned that the greater Trenton area is the scrap metal recycling center in Mercer County. Although an internet search reveals that there might be six or more firms under the broad definition of metal recycling, most primarily deal with cars and car parts. This is a far cry from a half century ago when numerous steel companies (remember Roebling?) were located in the area. When those companies — and their nonautomotive scrap metal filings — disappeared, so too did the bulk of the metal recycling companies that existed at the time.
Today, there are only two companies that handle a significant amount of nonautomotive metal recycling: Sims Metal in Ewing and Scarpati Recycling and Auto Salvage in Trenton. Sims is an international company, one with its headquarters in Australia. Scarpati is a local, family-owned company that is now in its 48th year of business. It is the only metal recycling company with deep personal ties to the area and a commitment to it.
We visited Sims first. An appointment is not necessary (we had checked the hours of operation). To me, it was like entering another world. There were huge, almost grotesque piles of black, white, and sparkling gray metal scrap of all sizes, twisted and warped and strewn about. Over this hovered dinosaur-like green cranes with long necks dangling immense claw-shaped attachments to haul the scrap. Thankfully there were clear paths to drive through it all.
We were asked what we were bringing and then instructed to roll down the driver window and drive up what appeared to me to be a 5 foot tall ramp (when told later to call Sims’ Australian headquarters to get confirmation on such details, I deferred on incurring such charges). When we brought our car to a halt after slowly arriving at the ramp top, a voice from the speaker phone on the driver’s side ordered us to stop briefly and asked Toby his name. After he dutifully shouted that out, we were then told to drive off and follow a designated path to where our filing cabinets could be dumped.
Toby hauled out the cabinets —he said they were not that heavy; I would have found them so — and randomly discarded them in a pile bordering our car. With that accomplished, we followed the earlier instructions given through the speaker phone on the ramp and drove back on it.
I find this part totally amazing: The weight difference before our car’s first and second stop on the ramp showed the poundage of our filing cabinets.
After Toby once again shouted out his name, we were ordered to drive to a designated building. There, Toby not only once more announced his name but also showed his driver’s license to a person seated behind a double-glassed window. And with that — presto! — two $5 bills appeared through the slot underneath. We had just been paid for an amazing experience while ensuring we were not contributing to a landfill.
From that impersonal but extremely interesting encounter at Sims, we next explored Scarpati’s. If that name should sound familiar to readers of this article, it is because the company’s founder — John Scarpati — also established Hamilton’s widely popular Italian American festival, which returns this fall after a COVID-induced absence for the past five years.
Today, his son — John Jr. — and numerous Scarpati members (all Hamilton residents) work at the company which consists of two divisions. As the company name implies, one division deals with salvaged auto parts and the other with a diverse array of scrap metals.
While our experience was similar to that of Sims, we felt there was a more welcoming atmosphere at the Scarpati site. This was reinforced by the staff offering to help us to remove the barbells (Toby declined but I would have accepted) and the fact that it was locally owned. Bottom line: it was not expensive to call John Jr. to get more information.
It is a business, he told me, that is heavily regulated, no matter what kind of metal scrap is being dealt with. There are generally two kinds of scales used, the ramp (Sims) and the flat (Scarpati). Both types are certified by the state and receive a yearly certificate by the National Conference on Weights and Measures stating that they meet fair trade requirements.
There’s more, John Jr. said. A scrap yard must receive both state and municipal licenses. Four times a year, these yards are inspected by the state to ensure that they meet legal environmental standards.
As noted in the side bar, scrap metal prices vary considerably. They differ not only due to the type and quality of the metal but also the geographical area where the scrap is being used and needed. This almost daily fluctuation makes it challenging to determine profits as the recycler must also account for both selling and shipping the scrap pieces to a processor.
Perhaps because it is so rooted in the community, the Scarpati family business goes out of its way to ease the process of buying miscellaneous scrap items from local construction firms and private home owners. Their web site has a very helpful page detailing what happens when you arrive.
The Scarpati family feels that through their business they are contributing to making the environment in the greater Trenton area healthier and cleaner. Perhaps you will too when you recycle your scrap metal at any firm. It is really a good feeling, one which also pays you for acquiring it.
Scarpati Recycling and Auto Salvage, 1300-1340 New York Avenue, Trenton. 609-396-0880. www.scarpatirecycling.com.
Sims Metal, 1549 Calhoun Street, Ewing. 609-396-0880. www.simsmm.com/locations/ewing-new-jersey.
The scene at Sims Metal in Ewing, where cars are weighed using a ramp system before and after they drop off metals to be recycled.,
