It doesn’t matter if it’s a long-dead Buick or a pair of pop cans. If it’s metal, Galamba wants it.
Galamba Metals does metal recycling on a big scale. Its 15 other plants regularly ship 20-ton loads of compressed metal to Kansas City for shredding and recycling. And as of Nov. 13, Emporia has joined the fun with a plant at 302 Graham St.
“All this gets reduced to something no bigger than your fist,” said western regional manager Christian Fisher, indicating a nearby pile of appliances, cars and other scrap metal. “It’s great for the community because rather than it being dumped in a ditch or a landfill, we’ll pay cash on the spot for it. It’s a win-win situation for the community and the people in the community.”
The setup works like a fast-food loop in reverse — drive into the circular pathway with your stuff, drive out without it about five to 10 minutes later with a few more bucks in your pocket. Once everything is weighed and unloaded, Galamba pays $65 a ton for most metal, or $70 a ton for cars without tires.
All cars have to have proper title, Fisher said, along with some basic prep work.
“For us to buy a car, they have to have an 8-by-8-inch hole in the gas tank, the battery removed and any refrigerant in the vehicle has to be evacuated,” he said.
Once processed in Kansas City, the metal is resold to manufacturers.
“We’re basically ‘reverse retail,’” Fisher said. “We buy things from the public for a small price and then sell it back to the manufacturer.”
A temporary trailer serves as the company’s office in Emporia until a new 50 by 100-foot building can be completed. Fisher said that would probably take about four to five months and would include a covered drive-through.
Galamba was founded in 1979 and has plants in Kansas, Missouri and Arkansas. Most of its customers are industrial, although it also has a steady stream of “weekend warriors” who come on Saturdays with bags of cans or old scrap metal pots they just cleaned out of the garage.
Bring them down, Fisher said.
“If you can get it legally hauled in, we’ll take it,” he said.