Drop-off recycling plant opens in Salt Lake City

Metro Group Inc. has opened a recycling facility at 3150 W. 900 South in Salt Lake City, one of the company's four plants operating in the valley.

The latest plant, which processes metals and paper products, has drive-through drop-offs, industrial service scales and employes to help make recycling easier.

The location at 401 W. 900 South will remain open, accepting metals and paper products.

Metro Group also has two other plants, which were purchased in 2003: Wasatch Metal Recycling, 205 W. 3000 South and Redwood Recycling at 6235 S. Redwood Road.

All facilities accept paper products and they pay cash for scrap metals, such as aluminum, copper, brass, stainless steel, batteries and radiators. There is no reimbursement for paper products.

The public is welcome, from giant manufacturers getting rid of scrap metals to consumers dropping off soda pop cans.

"We are constantly looking for ways to make our business more customer friendly," said Chris Bond, Metro Group's vice president of marketing.

Last year, Metro Group's recycling efforts helped reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Salt Lake County by over 20 million pounds and conserved the energy equivalency of over 1 million gallons of gasoline through automobile recycling, the company said. It also conserved enough electricity to run over 56,000 homes for 12 months through aluminum recycling and reprocessed enough copper to provide the material necessary to outfit over 20,000 homes.

"Not only is recycling great for our environment, but it's also equally beneficial for our economy, Spencer Eccles, executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development, said in a statement.

Here's how it works at Metro Group:

• Bring materials to the recycling plant.

• For small loads, pull directly up to the loading dock and an employee will weigh your materials and give you a payment ticket. For large loads pull onto the scale located adjacent to the office.

• After your weight has been recorded, you will be told where to take your material. Take your ticket back to the office to get paid for the metals.

Nationwide, about 130 million metric tons of scrap materials are processed annually, according to the trade group, Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries Inc.

More than 60 percent of the iron and steel made in this county is manufactured using ferrous scrap, nearly 60 percent of U.S. aluminum consumption comes from domestically recycled aluminum, and 36 percent of the raw material used to make new paper products comes from recycled paper.

dawn@sltrib.com

Twitter@DawnHouseTrib —

Salt Lake County recycling plants

New Metro Group facility • 3150 W. 900 South accepts metals and paper products

Other Metro location • 401 W. 900 South accepts metals and paper products

Hours • 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Divisions • Wasatch Metal Recycling, 205 W. 3300 South; Redwood Recycling, 6235 S. Redwood Road

Hours • 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. Saturdays.

Metro Group Inc. • Based in Salt Lake City, 150 employees