Northern Metals Recycling in Becker is open for business — to a certain extent — as they work towards ironing out the kinks in the mechanical and computerized sides of their business.

The goal is to get engines, electrical, mechanical, computers and processes synced in all phases of operation to be fully commissioned.

“We’ve been allowed to start on processing material immediately on feedstock that has not been impacted by the fire,” said EMR CEO Scott Helberg.

The burned items — stacks and stacks of crushed vehicles — will be run through the shredder as soon as the system is commissioned. The MPCA is hoping NMR will be able to do a 50/50 shred of burnt feedstock and new to reduce ash exposure.

The new NMR facility is state-of-the-art and one-of-a-kind throughout the state, country and even the world. Helberg has had visitors from Europe, Germany and other countries throughout the world come and visit the new facility in Becker. No other shredding recycling center is fully enclosed like Northen Metals.

“We are at about 15-20% of commissioning right now,” said Helberg. “The whole process is very high tech and it takes a while to coordinate all the systems and computers.”

Helberg says he has technicians working to ensure the air systems are adjusted correctly and balanced. They are measuring air-flow and indexing items. They are also monitoring the water used and the temperatures involved in the processes.

Helberg also had a few engineers from Brazil and Germany tasked with installing and getting their 8,000 HP motor functioning for the opening of the plant several weeks back. However, the fire disrupted that process and the long-distance visitors had to return home to their countries, so Helberg is utilizing their expertise via remote access.

“Overall, the commissioning has been going very well,” Helberg said.

Recently, the MPCA took wastewater, ash and sludge samples from the two ponds on the property to analyze for the presence of pollutants. Helberg is leasing a 1.7 million gallon pool to collect and treat all waters from the fire on the property and ensuring the facility does not release any polluted water to saturated or unsaturated zones.

Under a new order by the MPCA, NMR is required to submit a weekly pond level assessment to the MPCA, including, but not limited to, how much was pumped, where the wastewater was discharged to and how much freeboard each pond has at the end of each week.

NMR must also consolidate ash and debris into piles, covering the materials with tarps and surrounding the materials with erosion control booms until it can be characterized and appropriately disposed of. They must also apply water to the ash and debris as necessary to minimize fugitive dust generated from wind erosion and handling of material.

Stricter Rules?

Northern Metals has been under scrutiny for years at their Minneapolis facility for emission violations and falsified information following a whistle-blower incident in 2017.

Helberg says those incidents have put his business under a microscope with the MPCA and they have been babysitting him ever since.

Minnesota has seven auto shredders in the state including NMR in Becker, Alter Trading Corp. in Anoka, Crow Wing Recycling in Brainerd, Bay Side Recycling Corp. in Duluth, Alliance Steel Service in Minneapolis, New Ulm Steel & Recycling in New Ulm and Gerdau in St. Paul.

The six other operations are all outdoor shredding operations as compared to NMR’s fully-enclosed feature. Photos taken recently identify each location with callous operation in relation to wetlands, ground surfaces, air emissions and storage of feedstock and recycled materials. Several of those sites exhibit oil stains on the dirt surfaces around the shredders.

Several of those sites have no containment for ash or debris despite being in close proximity to woodlands, wetlands, neighboring homes and schools and businesses.

Yet, the MPCA seems to delegate all its manpower to ensuring NMR is not in violation of any pollution edicts while allowing the other sites to operate under what could be lackluster monitoring.

“Those sites have no air emission control features and their dirt surfaces are saturated and their production not enclosed,” said Helberg, “and yet we are looked at under a microscope. We are not a company that is irresponsible we just ask to be dealt with fairly.”

NMR’s processing areas and storage are 100% capped, meaning no dirt or land under the 12” concrete or asphalt gets touched.

“We have two stormwater ponds which produce no run-off and that capture all the water on the site,” said Helberg.

NMR has five acres of buildings that conduct the processing indoors. Every production building is hooked up to emission control equipment. They have also filed for modifications on how they are stockpiling that has been signed off by the local fire department and by the county.

Summary

Each year, more than 25 million vehicles reach the end of their service life throughout the world, and this number is rising rapidly because the number of vehicles on the roads is rapidly increasing.

The average useful life of a vehicle is about 10–15 years, so more than 12 million vehicles annually reach the end of their useful lives in the United States. Over 95% of these end-of-life vehicles (ELVs) are recycled for their metals content, which represents about 75% of the weight of the vehicle (Sendijarevic et al. 1997). The other 25% typically ends up in landfills, with a small percentage used as landfill cover.