A high and rapid ROI makes the purchase of a briquetter easy to justify

Feb 01, 2010 | 05:54 AM | Michael Marley

They're often seen as the orphans of the scrap metal industry, but turnings and borings are stirring new interest among scrap processors and manufacturers. The biggest hurdle seems to be a commitment to buying the machinery that makes the process economical.

Those who used to throw turnings away or bury them in the trunk of a car headed for a shredder are looking at turnings and borings as a new way to make money, according to Michael Dempsey, national sales manager at the North American arm of Austrian equipment maker ATM-Recyclingsystems GmbH. "We are finding that quite a few people are looking for the advantage," he said.

Briquetters and puckers—the latter being machines that make smaller briquettes, often no bigger than a hockey puck—are his company' biggest sellers today. ATM-Recyclingsystems' machines are all cold briquetters. The briquette might feel hot when it comes out of the machine, but it's just the pressure that makes them feel hot—there is no heat involved in the production process.....