Weitsman begins environmental upgrades at his recycling facilities

Upstate Shredding – Weitsman Recycling, the largest private scrap metal recycling operation on the East Coast, has been a decades-long industry leader in terms of environmental protection and conservation for the communities that the company serves. The Environmental Protection Agency has issued new, more strict mandates for capturing byproducts from metal shredders and recyclers – and Adam Weitsman has reinforced his commitment to protecting and preserving the environment for future generations, pledging to install cutting-edge systems at his facilities to capture and properly mitigate byproducts from his recycling operations. 

“I have been very pleased with our continued communications with the Environmental Protection Agency and I am fully committed to doing what is necessary to proactively ensure that our facilities not only meet but exceed the regulations, current and future, being set forth by all State and Federal agencies,” said Adam Weitsman, the company’s owner.

He added, “As a father, I understand the importance of environmental conservation and preserving our environment for future generations, and we have already started the process of installing systems to further eliminate any potentially hazardous emissions at our facilities.”

The company has already begun work on new environmental retention ponds on-site at the Owego shredding plant. This is the first of many improvements that the company will be implementing throughout the next two years to improve air and water quality.

Scrap metal shredding facilities are required to control 81% of emissions under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and New York State Implementation Plan (NYSIP) to control the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) if they have the possibility to emit more than 50 tons of the compounds per year. Weitsman aims to far exceed that requirement and estimates that the cost of the necessary facility and equipment upgrades will be more than $7 million. The work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025. The new equipment will use cutting-edge technological systems to capture and scrub the air and water that passes through Weitsman’s facilities. 

Upstate Shredding was one of the first shredders in the country to come to an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency on this mandate and began the work on conservational improvements like new retention ponds immediately. The new air and water-scrubbing equipment is estimated to take approximately two years to manufacture and, once finished, it will be installed at the Company’s shredders in Owego, N.Y. and New Castle, Pa.