The newly operational Hutch Metal Recycling sits in a large remodeled facility, where the smell of grease and metal shavings greets customers selling large or small amounts of recyclable scrap metal.
Complete with totes, large containers and scales, the new company aims to build trust and partnership with Hutchinson residents and businesses.
Owner Kyle Altvater began his career pouring concrete with his brother, but after searching for a new business venture, his uncle introduced him to recycling metal.
“My uncle and his business partner have been in the business for years, so if I have a question, I can call him and get the answer, and that’s priceless,” Altvater said.
Focusing on customer service. Hutch Metal Recycling buys the scrap materials from customers by weight. When a customer sorts the metals, Altvater offers a better price per pound since some metals are worth more than others.
“Most of it is quality service, and price matters to a lot of people,” Altvater said.
Altvater said by offering fair prices, providing scales and offloading services, he hopes to build connections with the patrons of his business to recycle and offer a location that anyone can use besides large scrap cleanups.
The business provides large roll-off bins, quickly loaded off and on trailers, that customers can use when doing cleanup projects. Hutch Metal Recycling can drop off and later pick up the bins if customers do not have the equipment to move the containers.
“We don’t charge to take out and set for them. So customers can load the metal, and we’ll pick up the roll-off bins. That makes it easy,” Altvater said. “We have smaller totes and things for mechanic shops, and we pick those up too.”
Processing for re-use. Hutch Metal Recycling resides in a building previously owned by Borton Construction, giving Altvater and his employees plenty of room to collect, sort, prepare and ship almost 30 different types of magnetic and non-magnetic metals.
Altvater said his company pre-processes the metals before shipping them to different smelters in other states like Texas and Illinois, where the metals are purchased and melted down for use in new manufacturing.
One employee, Issac Anderson, identifies the metal, cuts it to size specified by forges and packages it. Anderson said there are many different metals he sees, from three types of copper to the various aluminum alloys the company receives daily.
“We process ferrous metals like steel and non-ferrous metals like copper, nickel and aluminum,” Anderson said. “It doesn’t have to just come from large manufacturers either; anyone can come and sell metal.”
Hutch Metal Recycling takes appliances and breaks down air conditioners, microwaves and other devices made with metal.
The small crew of five, including Altvater, process thousands of pounds of metal purchased from customers. Altvater said most of the metal purchased currently comes from new farmers aiming to clean up old farmland to continue use.
“There’s a new generation of farmers right now, and we have several that we’re doing right now cleaning up scrap metal,” Altvater said. “Prices are good, so I think that’s going to be a large part of what we do here.”
Located at 7 N. Superior St., Hutch Metal Recycling is open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, by appointment on Saturday and closed on Sunday.
