Metals Recycling News
Ferrous Processing & Trading helps bring second life to Tiger Stadium
Soave company is recycling part of Detroit’s history
October 23, 2008, Detroit, MI – When distinctive blue steel beams arrived at a Ferrous Processing & Trading (FPT) scrap facility, employees took notice and were quickly able to name their former home – Detroit’s legendary Tiger Stadium. The arena has stood empty since its last Major League Baseball game on September 27, 1999, after which the Tigers moved to nearby Comerica Park.
Beginning in July when heavy equipment began crumbling the walls, the stadium’s steel and nonferrous metals – 89,000 pounds of aluminum, copper and other valuable commodities from the demolished portion of the stadium – have traveled to FPT yards in and near Detroit to be cut to size or shredded before being sold to be re-melted. The recycled materials will eventually become everything from new cars to kitchen appliances.
“That’s the beauty of metal,” FPT’s Executive Vice President Chip Hering noted. “Metal has no memory of what it used to be.”
Almost 95 percent of the demolished part of the stadium is being recycled, an impressive figure compared with a typical industry standard of 75 percent. That estimate includes over 11.4 million pounds of steel and almost 17.4 million pounds of concrete and other debris.
According to Jim Benacquisto, FPT Account Executive, local destinations for the Ferrous-processed steel include the SeverStal North America Inc. mill at the River Rouge industrial complex in Dearborn and the North Star BlueScope Steel mill in Delta, Ohio. SeverStal’s Dearborn plant is a supplier for many automakers, including General Motors, Chrysler and Ford. North Star BlueScope makes steel with a long list of applications, including manufacturing goods.
“Our yard workers got a kick out of it when they recognized the blue steelwork from the old stadium, but we’re recycling Detroit every day,” Hering sums up.
