Western Scrap Processing - Colorado Springs, Colorado

Dan Rau

I have been a loyal customer of Western scrap for over 20 years and have scraped probably 10 tons per year however I WILL NEVER USE THEM AGAIN!
Over the last couple years they have Miss categorized lots of my scrap to pay me less than they should and treated me less than expectable. I overlooked all this because they paid more than others. However after my last trip I WILL NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH THEM AGAIN!!!

I had a small load that was mixed with item's I wanted to scrap and others I wanted to keep. Long story short some of my keep items came out with the scrap. When I attempted to retrieve said item's I was called a lier and told I could not keep "have" them because the yard guy didn't physically see me throw them out. It is aperantly company policy that even if it's your own personal property, you cannot pick it up off the ground unless the yard guy sees you remove it from your vehicle!

My total load paid $42.00. total scrap value of my personal items they refused to let me keep was approx 20 cents. Retail value to replace said items about $50.00. So in the end I literally lost 8 dollars not counting my time and fuel.

In closing it has come to my attention (after speaking with the owner) about the time I noticed poor encounters with Western scrap was the same time as the American iron buy out!

Shannon - Shae Sanchez (Shae)

They are friendly and always very helpful. If you've never been there and are unsure of what to do when you get there, just park your car on the right side of the parking lot. That is for customers. Remember the right side! If you park on the left, you'll hear one of the lovely ladies from upstairs call out to you over the load speaker and tell you the first rule of thumb at the scrapyard. "RED (or whatever color vehicle you have) TRUCK YOU CAN'T PARK YOUR TRUCK THERE! THAT'S FOR EMPLOYEES! PLEASE PARK ON THE RIGHT SIDE ONLY!"
The speaker is loud and can be very intimidating, but the ladies are just helping you to learn the ropes. Despite the way they sound over the loudspeaker, they really are nice ladies who work up in the office. If you have questions, the office is your first stop. Park your vehicle on the right, go towards the building, walk past the recycling garage door, walk past the big scale, and the stairs to the office are just past that, go up one flight of stairs, and there you will meet the beautiful and friendly ladies of the scrapyard. They will happily answer your questions. If you have just steel, you can drive up and onto the scale, the ladies will tell you when it's okay to drive on into the yard to drop all your steel. As you're driving into the yard, that's where you'll be greeted by the big and burly, yet handsome, friendly men of the yard. They will direct you on where to back up to drop your load of steel. Don't let that fool you though. These guys won't put up with any funny business. Make sure your grills are empty of ashes, and washers and dryers are empty too unless of course they are packed with more steel items. No other trash inside is allowed or they will make you take all the trash out and put it back in your truck! Don't think you can sneak it by either because they will be watching for just those kinds of things. This is a metal recycling plant, not a dump. There are some things they will not take for example; box springs because they tear up their shredders. Cut it up into very small pieces yourself, and they will. They won't take fridges or air conditioners unless you have them tagged by a professional saying that the freon was disposed of properly. And absolutely no TVs or monitors. Unless you're turning in just the metal inside them. The rest keep at home or taken to an electronic recycling center. Which brings me to the last part of this topic. The recycling center. There you can take metals like aluminum, copper, or brass. It pays you a bit more per pound than steel. However many factors are taken into consideration. First, you must have a minimum of one pound. They then consider the grade of the specific metal. For example, a screen door that's free of all screws and any other steel and wood parts will get you more per pound than an aluminum lamp stand. Just because the grade of the aluminum they use is higher in the door than compared lamp. Remember though, you must clean your recyclables if you want the best price for that grade metal. Just one steel screw will knock you down a couple of price notches and they'll call it dirty. That could mean a few cents or more difference in the total they'll give per pound in the end. You won't get the full price.
Also, you will need your ID and your vehicle tag number to turn in any scrap here, so come prepared. They won't let you slide on that either. Taking in an unusually large load of copper, brass, wire, etc? Be prepared to hand them a note giving you proper authorization to turn it in or give them the address of where you got it, when you got it, and the name of who permitted you to take it. They will be happy to check for you. The hours are between 8 and 4, and the recycling closes at 3:45, so get there early. They are closed on all national holidays but call just in case. Sometimes they'll close early the day before the holiday. Hey, they work hard, and they need time off too! Now, go get your scrap metal and let's head to Western scrap recycling! The highest overall payout in town for scrap metal!

Mason Berg

First time bringing junk was confusing...
Been there 5 or so times now. Havent had one bad interaction. Employees are all very nice and helpful...
Dude even helped me seperate my metal to maximize profits. Pretty cool.
Will keep bringing my scrap here !

Craig

Like I've heard said I'm Google Reviews before, they get one star because Google doesn't do negative stars. Where do I begin? Being the first customer of the day, I was first ignored for the first 15 minutes. Upon saying good morning I got nothing but a dour look, and the weighmaster was non-responsive when spoken to. They don't provide you with your ticket until after you go to cash out and when I was handed about 25% of what I know I should have gotten from over 12 years of experience, I questioned it and was greeted with hostility and aggression. I argued my point as I was given less than half, more like a third of my mis-classified material and then the way master tried to argue with me because he had lumped in some pretty thick number one insulated, with the CAT5 which was also Miss categorized and I was given 31 cents a pound, and then you tried to tell me that the thick wire wasn't mine though I was the first customer there and the only customer who had any wire into been so he has some difficulty arguing his point tried to claim it was only two buckets when it was three trying to say that I mixed it together and making every excuse not to pay me and then once he couldn't really argue with the truth he took it into the office with a bad attitude and I was greeted with more bad attitude and instead they gave me 41 cents a pound for what I should have paid around $2.20 by any respectable recycling yard. This is my first time dealing with these people but the unprofessionalism I encountered combined with the fact that they flat out ripped me off would make me warn anybody to stay far far away from these people because they're just no damn good. They're shady, they're unprofessional and they're belligerent. Upon proving my point I was instead given the dollar more and told not to come back even though I was polite and civil sticking to my guns which really angered them because I wouldn't engage. Bottom line is that that was a test run for this yard since I just moved into the area. Ordinarily I bring it into up to 10 grand worth of non-ferrous metals per week for recycling but first I was dip my toe in the water like I did today and I have to say hands down these folks failed every test and every way and I'm glad to say I will not be doing business with them in the future. I certainly warn everybody to stay clear of this scrap yard because these folks are unscrupulous, exercise piss poor business practices, and I used to getting away with it obviously. I thought a lot of this up in Denver these are the companies that prey on the homeless, and the inexperienced. I am certain that no professionals frequent this yard unless they just don't know any better, which many don't. If you are an organization that has trucks coming here I highly recommend that you try another yard and see the difference for yourself I'm sure that you're losing out on thousands every week. These aren't the kind of people who care what people think that's obvious. My first clue was listening to the lady on unicom spouting off at everybody that approached. When I was in the office and she was doing it the other one that was coaching her was making snide remarks about enjoying being a b and comments like that. I knew already what I was dealing with by that point. That's my review and I strongly suggest that if you have a choice in the matter to take your business elsewhere, I've never been screwed so badly by even the worst of the worst up in Denver and that's saying something.

George Shaiffer

If any metal items are presented for sale to you that contains the printing of COSROCS AND OR NAR SECTION 515, Do not buy it, instead call CSPD or EPC Sheriff.
Material belongs to a small local non profit club that work with over 1000 youth each year.
Thank You

George Shaiffer
Cosrocs Equipment Manager

Scott Weidler

100 lb aluminum sheet with less than an ounce of steel screws doesn't count as clean aluminum. Dropped off 1700 lb of aluminum and because there was a pound-and-a-half of steel with it they gave me half price and shorted me over $500 on the srap. I've got another 6000 lb of aluminum I need to scrap but this was the last time I ever take them materials.

Wayne Stevens

It is 3:56pm and the hours of operation according to the website they close at 4:15pm. However I was told to leave because door #1 is closed. I assume door #1 has different hours of operation and gas the price of gas at $5.00 per gallon really upset me and on top of that I now have to unload everything just to save the hassle of doing everything again on another day. Thanks western scrap for not accepting my business and not having any common courtesy!!!

Jacob Simon

Said they were open on the sign, website and answering machine. Apparently not.
Edit: I was accosted in Western scrap parking lot by a man who accused me of a crime, told the police it was me, Western scrap staff then gave police my information and they issued a warrant and arrested me, put me in jail and I waited there for 5 months before the case was dismissed. (Innocent). Isn't that illegal to do? I mean, come on.