Ben Weitsman of Albany, a new scrapyard in the Capital Region’s metal recycling business is booming since its August opening. The port has a long history of handling scrap. One its oldest tenants, Capitol Scrap Metal, just down the road from the Weitsman operation, has been there since 1938. Prices for steel and other scrap metals have been generally strong, driven in part by increasing demand in the U.S. as the economy recovers. Some unusual objects can show up at scrapyards. Like a 1968 Lincoln Continental with 38,000 miles. As many as 300 cars daily are crushed at the Albany yard, and then trucked to a massive, 10,000-horsepower shredder at the company’s Owego headquarters, where vehicles are ground into small bits of metal, glass and plastic that are separated and shipped to various mills and refiners. The scrap market should further strengthen this year, said Joe Pickard, chief economist and director of commodities for the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries.

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