AMM

GLR Advanced Recycling has launched a non-ferrous metals brokerage division called GLR America that will service suppliers in the United States and Canada as well as consumers internationally.

Plans for the division began in March when the Covid-19 pandemic forced many Americans to work from home and changed how the industry operated.

“A few weeks into the pandemic when everyone was working from home, we had some positions that would help suppliers and consumers alike. So we started then. We saw the demand for it. The demand for consumers needing product and suppliers needing to move product was a good opportunity given the circumstances,” GLR America’s president and chief executive officer Michael Bassirpour told Fastmarkets on Monday June 29.

The division formally launched earlier this month as an offshoot of GLR Advanced Recycling, which operates six locations in Michigan, and brokers various aluminum and copper scrap products.

In August 2018, Recycler Padnos acquired a stake in GLR Advanced Recycling. Padnos processes prime and obsolete scrap and foundry by-products.

“We are confident that given our relationships and time in the business and the trust in the business that we formed over the years, and with Padnos’ relationship, we will be able to get the highest numbers for suppliers of scrap, based on the volumes we move and our credibility. For the supplier dealing with us, we’re very confident we can furnish them with the best numbers possible,” Bassirpour said.

GLR Advanced Recycling purchased over 50,000 scrap cars in 2019 and expects to buy 70,000 cars this year.

The company also launched a car buying program called 1-800-CARS 4 CASH that operates in 11 states. That division was also launched during the pandemic when the company saw an opportunity to diversify its supply sources since Covid-19 had a negligible effect on used car sales.

“From our core business, which is recycling scrap cars and metal, people are always in need of money and cars are always going to be turned over. Used car and new car sales haven’t been impacted yet so far from Covid-19 as much other lines of industry. So long as people are buying used and new cars, inevitably there will be a trade in,” Bassirpour said.

While the non-ferrous metals will be sourced from the US and Canada, the metal will be exported to customers internationally.