Scrap-metal recycling pleases agency chief

The director said he will assist scrap-metal processors in every possible way.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The scrap metal processed in October by three Mahoning County facilities weighed more than all recycled materials collected in 2004 in the county's curbside recycling program.
Jim Petuch, director of the Mahoning County Commissioners' Reuse & amp; Recycling Division, also known as the Green Team, made the comparison to illustrate the impact scrap-metal processing facilities have in keeping that material out of landfills.
Petuch is elated that Youngstown City Council amended an ordinance last Wednesday so scrap-metal processing facilities in the city must keep a daily log of all the ferrous and nonferrous metals they process and report those numbers to the Green Team monthly.
Ferrous metal is any metal that magnets will stick to, such as tin and steel, he explained. Magnets do not stick to nonferrous metals such as aluminum, he said.
Scrap-metal processors operating in the city limits are to make a report to the Green Team by the 15th of each month for the previous month.
Praise for processors
Petuch praised Youngstown processors Diver-Steel City Auto Crusher Inc., Himrod Avenue; Youngstown Iron and Metal, Division Street; and Broadway Iron and Metal of Alliance for reporting monthly figures with little urging. The three processors reported a total tonnage of 7,593.
He said he hopes that scrap-metal processors located outside the city, but in the county, will supply the information, even though they are not required to do so.
"Making these reports should not be a burden," Petuch said. "Having the data will benefit the processors and the county. My intent is that we work with the processors, not against them."
If a materials recycling facility becomes a reality in the county, Petuch said, any scrap metal delivered to the MRF would be sold to county scrap-metal processors.
"We will spread the wealth," Petuch said. "We're not going to compete with them."
Petuch has been director seven months and one of his goals has been to give a more accurate accounting of the county's recycling tonnage to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency. County reports to the OEPA have never included reports of scrap-metal processors.
Will aid police
Reports from scrap-metal processors also will assist Youngstown police and other county law-enforcement officials in tracking down theft of aluminum siding from homes and other buildings, he said. Aluminum siding is expensive and it is not uncommon for thieves to remove it during the night and then sell it to a scrap-metal processor, he said.
If the scrap-metal processor keeps a daily log, police can access those records and cross-check the daily logs with theft reports, he said.
Petuch praised city council for amending the ordinance on the books since 1967. He also thanked Jeanne Rostan, city finance supervisor, for working with him on the changes to the ordinance and taking it through the procedures required for council to put the amended law in place.
tullis@vindy.com