STORY-TRÅD·industri

How USM scaled from one truck to a national recycling operation

Success stories in the recycling industry often begin with a compelling origin story. United Scrap Metal's is no exception. In 1978, Marsha Serlin started the company with $200, a rented truck, and determination to support her two children. The single mother had no experience in the scrap business. On her first day, she rented the wrong truck (a closed-top truck instead of the intended open-top type), and made the rounds to local yards looking for somewhere to sell her scrap. It did not go as she thought it would. "I think she went into eight different scrapyards, all of which kicked her out, told her to ‘Go home. Watch your kids, get out of here, lady.' The scrap industry, it's a male industry," recalls her son, Brad Serlin, now President of United Scrap Metal (USM). "Finally, at the ninth location that she visited, they gave her a hand and helped her. And we remained loyal to that company for a relationship [that] spanned almost 30 years until they were no longer in business. She never forgot." For Brad, staying connected to the company's past means carrying those same small-business principles into a much larger organization. They continue to shape everything from customer relationships and leadership development to community involvement. Nearly five decades later, United Scrap Metal operates 11 locations across nine states and employs roughly 800 people, making it one of the country's largest privately held recycling companies. The company purchases, processes, and markets ferrous and non-ferrous metals and other recyclable commodities, serving customers across manufacturing, metal service centres, utilities, construction, and demolition. The company's growth is the product of something much larger than geographical expansion alone. Brad believes its success reflects decades of deliberate decisions about the kind of company USM wanted to become. Finding opportunity in scrap recycling The company's willingness to tackle difficult work predates its first permanent facility. Brad remembers his mother taking on cleanouts, auction salvage, insurance claims, and virtually any opportunity that required determination more than experience. She cold-called prospective customers, knocked on doors, and pursued opportunities whenever she found them. Marsha's approach led to some unconventional contracts: when a leading sporting equipment manufacturer had an insurance claim for footballs and golf balls that fell off a semi-truck, she cleaned them up and resold the sporting goods. Her willingness to figure things out was also invaluable during Chicago's blizzard of 1979 when nobody was running trucks on the road. Marsha learned that a major food conglomerate's canning plant couldn't move scrap out because of the snow, so USM stepped in and ran their entire truck fleet back and forth throughout the day hauling loose tin plate from the facility. USM's work kept material moving and allowed the plant to continue operations. "I think what my mom identified early was that anybody can do the easy work," Brad says. "But who's willing to take on the labour-intensive, challenging work that just requires a lot of ingenuity? You have to be willing to take a risk and just do it." That mindset would become one of the company's defining characteristics.