Recycling Oak Park Mall; Center takes 800 tons of material to be melted down into steel
Published 11:08 am Thursday, June 16, 2016
- Jeremiah, right, along brother Ben, center, and dad Glen stand amongst collected material. Photos by Eric Johnson/photodesk@austindailyherald.com
At Watson Recycling Center, there’s cars, parts of appliances and 800 tons of the recently demolished Oak Park Mall.
CEO Jeremiah Watson and Watson Recycling now have two locations in Austin, and the company was able to reach a deal with the contractor that demolished Oak Park Mall for Watson Recycling to recycle the tin and metal for it to be turned into new steel.
“Primarily, it makes economic sense to mine what’s already here,” Watson said. “We have a limited amount of natural resources. By recycling, we are taking what’s already been removed and reuse it again. It’s cost-effective and provides more jobs.”
Rochester-based Watson Recycling now has two Austin locations
The pieces will be cut to size, melted down to a general alloy at a center in St. Paul, where more materials are added before they’re finally molded and cut into steel that can be reused in construction and the automotive industry, or they’ll be made into rebar or almost anything that’s made out of steel.
Jeremiah Watson, CEO of Watson Recycling, shows off some of the material from the Oak Park Mall. The company is recycling rebar and steel girders from the mall.
Watson said the center recycles all types of materials, from ferrous metals like cast iron, tin or unprepared steel, scrap vehicles, appliances to non-ferrous metals like aluminum, copper, stainless steel, lead, catalytic converters and automotive batteries. The center also cuts it down to size so other facilities can melt the materials to be reused.
“Traditionally, they would have been just buried in a landfill,” Watson said.
Roll-off containers in various sizes from eight yards to 40 yards can be rented from the company for steel/iron, insulated wire, copper pipe, aluminum, construction or household cleanups and other uses. They can also deliver and pick up the containers.
Watson Recycling has expanded its reach in Austin, where it now has two locations. Watson Recycling bought the former Carney Auto salvage yard Highway 218 and turned it into Star City Auto, also an auto salvage yard.
Watson Recycling recently acquired another former Carney Auto site at at 2700 11th St. NE where the company collects metals, cars, appliances and other recyclables. To get the site ready for business, crews had to put a base down, which consists of recycled concrete and then a top later, which is recycled asphalt.
“We thought there was … a good opportunity for us,” Watson said. “We have good relations with people in Austin and lots of them were telling us to recycle scrap from this area.”
Watson plans to hold a grand opening in July.
He added the materials travelled quite a distance to be recycled elsewhere and the location was “very attractive” to them.
Girders are heaped on a pile at Watson Recycling. The girders were taken from the Oak Park Mall.
The three-generation company started in the 1980s, with Watson’s grandfather collecting rags and cardboard. He then got a permit from Olmsted County to start recycling.
The business’s home office is located in Rochester, but it now has the two sites in Austin.
The business has been passed onto Watson; his father, Glen; and his brother, Ben.
For more on Watson Recycling, visit www.watsonrecycling.com.
