General Iron
Industries, Inc.
Statement of General Iron:
“Our relocation plan allows a vital and necessary industry to keep more than 100 direct jobs, not
including the legion of scrap metal suppliers, in Chicago at a brownfield site that is already repurposed as a recycling facility. Recycling scrap metal is inherently more environmentally friendly
than dumping in non-renewable landfills. With modern new equipment and technology, we are
committed to the Green Economic Industrial Corridor revitalization principles adopted by the
Southeast Environmental Task Force, and we are looking forward to meeting and working
cooperatively with the entire community as their neighbor and partner in protecting public health
and the environment.”
Key differences between current and new location:
➢ Investment of $65-70 million in new construction, including a new shredder that features a
European-style engineered enclosure containing noise and dust. This will provide a much tighter
and aesthetically attractive enclosure, compared to the existing shredder.
➢ The non-ferrous metal separation equipment will be in a contained building. This is an upgrade
from the current enclosure to more secure containment.
➢ In addition to our current filtration of metals and particulates, we will soon be applying to install
a $2 million regenerative thermal oxidizer (RTO) at the current location, which we will then move
to the new location. The RTO will capture and destroy VOCs (or THCs) and prevent their emission.
To our knowledge, this will place GI among only three or four of more than 300 metal shredding
facilities in the country that use RTO technology.
➢ The expansive, open space (175 acres compared to fewer than 10 acres that the current shredding
facility occupies) will ensure a significantly larger buffer zone between the operation and
surrounding neighbors. This difference cannot be overstated as it will eliminate the visibility of
the metal awaiting shredding, as well as long lines of trucks queuing up at the facility.
➢ We will increase the number of massive water misters that are used to dampen and suppress
dust.
➢ We will continue to employ nine (9) inspectors to screen inbound recyclables for any prohibited
materials, which we believe is the highest number of inspectors at any of the 313 shredder
facilities nationwide.
➢ We will continue to capture, filter, and treat all storm water run-off.

 The key take-away from all of this is that General Iron not only employs state of the art equipment and
technology, but our facilities, both present and future, are the best in class among more than 300 metal
shredding facilities, placing us in the highest echelon of the industry.

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