Alco Iron & Metal Company

“The machine chops up the wire into very small pieces and then uses air to separate the commodi- ties from each other,”Bercovich continues.“Since the early ‘90s, the large wire that was easy to strip would still be done, domestically, but the majority of house or computer wires–anything with a recovery of 80-85 percent or less -was exported due to the labor rates being cheaper overseas and less envi- ronmental regulations where the material could be processed.There were so many avenues for export that it didn’t make sense to process it domestically. But about three years ago, it started to make sense for us to look at it, and we’ve been running a chop- ping line for insulated copper wire for about a year, and we’ve been able to expand our business by processing this insulated wire.” Going forward, Bercovich adds that more and more low-grade items, such as insulated copper wire, are going to have to be processed domestically to separate the contaminants from the usable metals. “I think there’s going to be a big turn in the United States,where we’re going to have to be process- ing these items here,”he states.“It costs me 300 bucks to ship fromOakland to Asia,where it costs me $4,000 to ship to Midwest mills. So, the finished product will still have to end up over there, but we won’t be able to sell these low-grade items; we can no longer put them in a container to be processed overseas. I think you’re going to see a lot more in- vestments in technology and equipment to separate that stuff to break it into more mill-grade items to be processed.” In addition, Bercovich remarks that Alco will also