Gray Johnson and his wife, Persephone, moved to Fort Myers, Fla. from New England with an entrepreneurial spirit and a desire for warmer weather. The couple soon discovered peddling recycled materials and established All Scrap – Fort Myers Inc. in 2000.
“When we moved to Florida, I was curious about the pool cages and their purposes, which led me to look at the life cycle of a pool cage,” explained Johnson. “That was my first toe in the water in the recycling industry. I found it fascinating that the different metals could be separated, melted down, repurposed and put back in the market. I started digging around into how I could build a business in the industry.”
Johnson’s initial curiosity was the catalyst for his three scrap metal recycling facilities in Fort Myers, Naples and Venice, which collectively cover a territory stretching from Sarasota to Marco Island. Primarily, the facilities accept recycled material then sort, break down and sell the material to the best buyer.
Hurricane Ian impact
When Hurricane Ian’s path collided with Fort Myers, Johnson knew his facility could help handle the wide range of destroyed metal products, including the pool cages that first piqued his interest. All Scrap was so busy that Johnson didn’t even notice that Hurricane Ian had blown the roof tiling off the office until days later.
“Directly following the hurricane, we sorted a lot of pan roofs and pool cages,” explained Johnson. “There were also a lot of white goods, which are your washers, dryers and refrigerators. We accepted a fair amount of non-ferrous material as well, which ranges from brasses from your plumbers to wires from your electricians. Due to the flooding, a lot of cars were totaled, and we’re able to repurpose a lot of the material inside of there.”
In addition to typical All Scrap customers, Johnson notes that there was a large increase in first-time peddlers.
“We created a plan to efficiently manage material and safely move people in and out of the facility,” stated Johnson. “We’ve also educated people about the value of what they’re bringing us. While it’s tough to see the destruction, there’s also hope that once we’re able to clean up the material, Fort Myers will rebuild, and new businesses will flourish.”
New machines, support from Linder
To handle the influx of material arriving at the facility, All Scrap utilizes an assortment of heavy equipment. The company partnered with Linder Industrial Machinery Company and LMH (Linder Material Handling) Group to add two Atlas material handlers to its fleet: a 300 MH and a 400 MH. Carlos E. Gomez, a sales representative for Linder and LMH Group, helped All Scrap find the right machines for its operation.
“Sorting and breaking down the material is very labor and equipment intensive,” stated Johnson. “As the All Scrap facility grew, we needed larger machines to handle the weight and quantity of material arriving daily. I wanted to add machines that could handle large quantities of material to reduce our manual labor workload and increase our efficiency. After we met with Carlos and saw the support Linder offered after purchase, we decided to add the Atlas 300 to our fleet. We use a magnet attached to the Atlas 300 to sort HMS (heavy melting steel) down to a preferred size, which makes moving heavy metals around the yard and unloading the trucks easier. Based on the success we had with the machine and the support from Linder, we recently added the Atlas 400. It has a 1.25-yard grapple attachment to load piles into open top trucks and help customers unload material from smaller beds.”
All Scrap has been satisfied with Linder’s support.
“Working with Carlos and Linder has been easy,” Johnson. “The sales response, service and support have been excellent. We tell Linder what we want to accomplish, and they help us find a viable option that fits our needs and budget. Because these machines work in a rough environment handling rough material, things are bound to break. Their parts and service departments have been great about responding to our calls and maximizing the machines’ uptime.”
Both the Atlas 300 and 400 are wheeled with outriggers for increased lifting capacity. The machines feature lift cabs, which allow the operator to extend the cab vertically and improve visibility.
“When the cab is raised up, the operator has a bird’s eye view of the job site and can see everything going on around them,” explained Johnson. “That’s great for the safety of our employees and the customers. We’ve found that matching the right-size machine to the right job has further increased our safety, because the operator is not overextending the Atlas capabilities to handle material.”
Johnson added, “We have a 30-year operator that has never been more efficient than with the new Atlas 400. Even with the increased volume from the hurricane, he’s able to efficiently move material around the yard and help unload customers’ vehicles, which would have been a struggle without this size of material handler. Overall, both the 300 and 400 have been excellent additions to our operation.”
Green footprint
Since diving headfirst into the recycling industry, Johnson has found a greater appreciation for its positive ecological impact.
“In the grand scheme of things, we’re a processor converting materials that would have otherwise ended up in a landfill into broken down parts that the next buyer will convert into a usable product,” said Johnson. “Sometimes I scratch my head and wonder where all the material comes from. At the end of the day, it’s good to know that we’re turning trash into gold and reducing the amount of waste. Hopefully, some of what is recycled here from Hurricane Ian will end up helping rebuild what was destroyed.”
https://www.smhgroup-us.com/news-all-scrap-fort-myers-hurricane-ian.htm