Segregate as you go

Demolition contractors recover and process significant volumes of ferrous and nonferrous metals on job sites.

In 2022, Brandenburg Industrial Service Co., Elmhurst, Illinois, sold more than 192,000 tons of ferrous and nonferrous metals from its demolition job sites. Rita Fields has held several positions at Brandenburg since 1992 and today serves as the company’s sales manager, overseeing the sale of scrap metal from most of its job sites.

Recovering and selling thousands of tons of scrap metal from job sites across the U.S. requires Fields to pay close attention to logistics trends and scrap markets. She offers some takeaways on Brandenburg’s metals recovery work in the following interview.

Construction & Demolition Recycling (C&DR): What metals does Brandenburg typically recover from job sites?

Rita Fields (RF): Each job site has its own individual specialty metals, whether it be in the form of condensers, heat exchangers, tubing or insulated copper wire.

From industrial power plant job sites, there’s heavy metal; sheet iron; structural and specialty metals, such as exchangers [and] condensers; brass; different alloys; 9200 [aluminum] and things of that nature.

Then, when it comes to hospital job sites, we see different alloys—specialty alloys from things that have been left behind. You’ve got restaurant equipment [in those hospital jobs]—stainless, brass and copper.

C&DR: What are best practices to keep in mind with recovering metals from demolition job sites?

RF: The best practice would be to segregate materials as you perform the demo. [We] segregate those materials into ferrous and nonferrous piles, and we do our best to segregate each individual commodity if we have the time and the space.

We work really hard to segregate our materials and identify materials in our process. I think Brandenburg does a good job of that. We have Niton analyzers [from Waltham, Massachusetts-based Thermo Fisher Scientific] that … tell us exactly what metal we have. I think that’s also a big mistake—not knowing what you have. There are all different grades of copper and so many grades of stainless steel.

C&DR: How does Brandenburg typically store the segregated materials at its job sites?

RF: We keep them in the open air for steel products. But, for copper and other nonferrous materials, we use locking boxes since theft can be a problem, especially among high-dollar materials.

C&DR: Is there any reason you might choose not to segregate materials on a job site?

RF: It’s rare, but it does happen because of area constraints and space.

If we’re doing something within a power plant and it’s a live operating plant, at that point, you don’t really have the space to lay materials down.

You may have to tell the scrap processor you work with, “I’m not going to be able to segregate this material. Give me the best mixed metal price you can give me.”

Typically, I’ll know that price for the market area. But in cases like that, where it’s a live operating plant, you’re limited in space and limited on time, then you don’t segregate.

C&DR: When you can’t process materials on-site, how do you find good scrap processors for those materials?

RF: In most cases, we’ve done business with them for years. I try to have in-depth, thorough conversations with them on my expectations and what we expect with scale tickets, grading, payment terms, etc. So, I have really great relationships with our buyers. They can talk to me about anything and know we’ll be straightforward with them.

Every now and then, there’s an area where no one has anything close to it. I will use the [Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries’ member directory] if it’s an area we’ve never been to to see if there’s anyone remotely near there. And I try to use larger corporations in order to protect Brandenburg’s money [and] to ensure someone has enough capital so, if they buy 4,000 tons from me for the month—if the market drops for whatever reason—then I know they have the capital to pay for the material. And word of mouth—I’ll speak to some larger outlets and ask if they know anyone in the area that’s reputable.

C&DR: How quickly do you move materials you recover from a job site?

RF: We typically try to sell the materials quickly. The only time I hold materials is if I know the market is going to go up $20 or $30 the next month. Then I may tell them to only ship what they have to in order to maximize the profit.

C&DR: How have markets for ferrous scrap evolved since you became sales manager at Brandenburg?

RF: The economy as a whole affects the steel market. So, markets were kind of steady from 2016 to 2020, a little more stable in my mind. Then, all of a sudden, COVID hit, and, from there on, it was mass chaos for the markets because demand was lower [for scrap] during COVID.

[Markets are] totally unpredictable until the mills make their orders. Mills are in the business to make money, so they try to drive the price of scrap down.

So, markets were in a steady down, down, down cycle. [When] we thought we hit rock bottom, it went down again. Then, all of a sudden, everyone got back to work after COVID, and people were purchasing cars. Demand came back, and markets improved.

But now, scrap markets are flat-lining out, trickling back down. It’s been like a roller coaster ride.

C&DR: How have markets been for nonferrous scrap, such as copper and aluminum?

RF: Copper markets have stabilized and stayed within a 20-to-50-cent range of change lately. In nonferrous markets, that change happens daily. China is a big consumer of copper and affects the demand for that material.

Some markets, like aluminum, might be affected by the economy. And stainless markets have stayed pretty steady, although they also have trickled down recently.

C&DR: How do you determine whether you sell your metals domestically or via export?

RF: It depends on the markets and the outlet that I’m using. So, I may sell to a local mill or to a mill in another state. Some of our West Coast or far East Coast material will end up going export through one of our processors because the ports are right there.

C&DR: Last year, trucking and freight were challenging to secure. How has Brandenburg navigated transportation-related challenges to move its scrap?

RF: It’s gotten a little better just this year. But, last year, it was extremely difficult to get trucks.

Most of my processors—my outlets that I use—did really well to keep up with us. But there were instances where we had to have someone else haul our trailers or send trucks on-site to haul the material for us. Not everybody can haul our trailers since there are special hookups for them.

We have a couple of trucking companies near us that will go to any job site we’re at. Even if it’s way out, we can send them there as long as trucks are available.

Rita Fields is a sales manager at Elmhurst, Illinois-based Brandenburg Industrial Service Co. Visit www. brandenburg.com for more information.