Hawaii Metal Recycling Company is in the business of preserving and protecting Hawaii’s environment—
a business that is both profitable and people friendly.
Hawaii’s largest and oldest scrap metal recycling enterprise, Hawaii Metal Recycling Company (HMR) began commercial operation in 1991. The company is a joint-venture partnership between Flynn Learner and HMR/Newell Inc., and operates on a six-acre facility in Campbell Industrial Park. Prior to formation of the joint venture, HMR’s managing partner, Flynn-Learner, operated a scrap metal recycling operation on O‘ahu from 1949 to 1991.
The combined efforts of HMR’s five Big Island and 17 O‘ahu employees (HMR plant workers are members of ILWU Local 142) result in the company exporting an average of 120,000 tons of scrap metal annually, greatly reducing Hawaii’s refuse stream. “HMR’s primary business is to produce a high grade scrap metal—from construction and demolition debris to derelict cars and bulky residential and commercial appliances—for sale overseas,” HMR General Manager Jim Banigan said. “A key driver to our business is the price paid overseas for scrap metal, but another motivation is the positive impact our work has on Hawaii’s breathtaking environment.”“Every 10,000 tons of scrap metal recycled at HMR saves 2,219,000 cubic feet of valuable landfill space,” he said. “You have no idea the sense of accomplishment that gives all of us working here.” A member of the City’s Partnership for the Environment Advisory Board and strong public advocate for both recycling and preserving Hawaii’s environment, Banigan moved to Hawai‘i and took the helm of HMR in 1992. Banigan led the company through a major period of expansion, increasing the scrap metal processed by the company from 40,000 tons annually in 1991 to120,000 tons in 1997. In 1996, Banigan and HMR’s dedicated staff were honored for their work to preserve the environment when the company was awarded the prestigious Kapolei Outstanding Achievement (KOA) Award by the Estate of James Campbell. In the years since 1996, HMR and its employees have been honored by Lt. Governor Mazie Hirono, the State Senate, the State House of Representatives and the City and County of Honolulu for constantly striving to go the extra mile to promote recycling. In addition to supporting public education programs and promoting the importance of recycling through corporate outreach, HMR and its employees are active in the community. Banigan is a past board member of Adult Friends For Youth, and he and his employees have contributed time and money to the Hawaii Foodbank, the Lokahi Tree and the Hawaii Junior Miss Program, among others. “When I am speaking to members of the HMR team, community leaders, elected officials or business colleagues, I try to always leave them with the message that recycling is really a metaphor for life—in all you do, look for ways to add and preserve value; it’s good business and good living,” Banigan said. |
Jim Banigan, Hawaii Metal Recycling (HMR) General Manager and an Advisory Board Member for the Partnership for the Environment
The HMR Plant at Campbell Industrial Park processes about 200 derelict cars and 150 tons
of other scrap
metal daily.
Gathering derelict cars from
neighborhoods, parks and beaches, HMR transforms unsightly vehicles into scrap metal for export—resulting in a cleaner Hawai‘i.
HMR exports more than 120,000 tons of scrap metal annually, saving 22 million cubic feet of landfill space.
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Hawaii
Metal Recycling is the oldest and largest recycling company
in Hawaii. The company’s metal recycling operation handles a
full 25% of our island’s total recycling. Imagine how quickly
our landfills would fill up if they were not doing business
on Oahu—all of our old cars, refrigerators, washers and dryers
piling up, not to mention the First Hawaiian Bank building,
which was processed there a few years ago.
About
the Partnership
