Surprise! John Sacco packs his bags and heads to Sterling Heights, Michigan to pay his good friend, Mikey Foon, an unexpected visit. As the fourth-generation owner of Admiral Metals, things are a bit different for Mikey than when his great-grandfather owned the place during the horse-and-buggy days. Through mastering social media, putting plans in place for a second location, and learning to cope with the toll COVID-19 has taken, Mikey still expresses his excitement for this business every day.

Initially establishing itself as a small welding and repair shop in 1972, JWR has evolved into a national waste and recycling equipment company offering additional services over the years, such as sandblasting, painting, truck and hoist repair, and container repair. Traveling to Johnson Creek, Wisconsin, John Sacco joins Dave Wolf, Owner of JWR, to talk about the lack of recycling in rural America, how COVID-19 has affected business, and present safety concerns.

Back in Moscow, Idaho, John visits the Beauchamp’s to hear how a Pile of Scrap episode influenced their company, Bulrushed Books. For a business that began its start in repairing old, abused books, Mark and Kristen Beauchamp have since made quite the impact within the recycling industry… All thanks to the insight of Pile of Scrap guest Leonard Zeid, President of Paper Stock Industries. Figuring that books are incredibly tricky to recycle due to their binding, Mark and Kristen developed the idea to debind their books to help maintain a clean recycling stream, which ultimately assisted their company’s growing success.

John Sacco is thrilled to finally log off of Zoom, let loose, and give you the full Pile of Scrap experience after the COVID-19 nationwide shutdown. John travels to Moscow, Idaho, to sit down face-to-face with Jeremy Spencer, West Coast Representative of Atlantic Packaging, to cover everything from how packaging can increase sustainability to how consumers can participate in recycling without negatively affecting the quality and content of their products.

Sierra founder, Ben Sacco, had a vision for his company: to improve the recycling process with better equipment and share that throughout the World. With John and Philip Sacco at the helm, they have been able to fulfill this vision. However, this success wasn’t handed over on a silver platter. Between leading an organized and clean recycling facility to Ben’s philosophy to always “telling the customer the truth,” there’s no surprise that Sierra is a recognized leader in the recycling industry. John and Philip sit down to tell us all about Sierra’s roots and the man behind the legacy.

After months of being cooped up in our homes day-in and day-out due to the stay-at-home orders swept across the nation, it’s easy to admit that we’ve all been itching to get our lives back to normal as quickly as possible. During this time, John Sacco gives us his take on how the COVID-19 crisis has particularly affected creativity and human interaction in the workplace as well as making a vast impact on the recycling industry in terms of rising contamination levels and declining recycling rates. Considering this, John says it’s time to open up and get this country working again.

During the novel Coronavirus pandemic, face masks and hand sanitizers have been a common procedure at essential businesses everywhere. However, over at Sierra, safety has been taken a step further when ensuring their employees are taking the necessary precautions. Felipe Guerra, Director of Safety at Sierra, joins Pile of Scrap once again to discuss the major changes they’ve made to ‘flatten the curve.’ Between daily morning temperature checks, air sanitizers in every office, and even changing all the door handles, it’s clear that Sierra’s safety team is unsurpassed.

As the next generation of recyclers are getting geared up to take over the reins of the industry, they can’t help but give credit to the generations before them that have paved the way for their success. Chad Olgin from Olgin Efune Recycling, Sean Daoud from PNW Recycling, and Jacqueline Lotzkar from Pacific Metals Recycling meet with John Sacco to talk about the improvements they see for ISRI, their aspirations in becoming ISRI’s next batch of officers, and the long-lasting friendships they’re making along the way.

With classes transitioning to online, trips being cancelled, and working from home becoming the new norm, it’s safe to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted our lives in the most unexpected way. John Sacco’s daughter, Giovanna, joins Pile of Scrap to discuss how her life was changed once she first heard of the European travel ban while in the U.K. for a semester abroad. Between having been a possible victim of the virus to being in complete isolation for 14 days, Giovanna gives you a firsthand look of her COVID-19 experience.

Ep. 25: Safely or Not at All with Sierra's Felipe Guerra by Sierra International Machinery