Rockaway Recycling

What Rockaway Recycling does

Rockaway Recycling is a privately held waste-management and scrap-recycling business founded in 1977 and headquartered in Rockaway, New Jersey. The company specializes in the buying, processing, and recycling of non-ferrous metals — specifically copper, brass, aluminum, and steel — serving what appears to be a local customer base of trade contractors, industrial sellers, and walk-in retail scrap-sellers.

The underlying operation is a physical scrap yard with a 47-year track record under founder and owner Tom Buechel. The company maintains a corporate web presence (rockawayrecycling.com) but no proprietary technology, software platform, digital sorting systems, or AI tooling is disclosed in available sources. There is no information on processing equipment, throughput volumes, or facility footprint.

The revenue model is not disclosed but is inferred to follow standard scrap-yard economics: the company purchases non-ferrous metal scrap at spot or negotiated prices and sells processed material to downstream mills, smelters, or commodity brokers, capturing the bid-ask spread net of processing and logistics costs. With 11–50 employees, the operation is small-scale and locally anchored. No customer concentration, segment mix, pricing detail, or capital structure information is available in the input data.

Name

Rockaway Recycling

Website

https://rockawayrecycling.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1977

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Rockaway Recycling is a privately held, family-founded scrap-metal recycler established in 1977 in Rockaway, NJ, buying and processing non-ferrous metals (copper, brass, aluminum, steel) from local trade contractors, industrial sellers, and walk-in customers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Scrap Metal Recycling

NAICS

Materials Recovery Facilities (56292)

SIC

Secondary Smelting & Refining Of Nonferrous Metals (3341)

akta.pro primary industry

Metals Recycling & Processing (Ferrous/Non-Ferrous) (BPALADAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Radiator, Cable & Wire Recycling (Copper/Aluminum Wire Chopping, Insulated Cable) (IMAKAMAJ)

Keywords

• Scrap metal recycling
• Non-ferrous metals
• Metal recycling facility
• Waste management services
• Copper aluminum recycling

Headquarters

HQ city

Rockaway

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Supply Chain

Core offering

Rockaway Recycling is a waste management company that operates a scrap metal recycling facility accepting and processing non-ferrous metals such as copper, brass, aluminum, and steel. The company purchases scrap from sellers and prepares recycled metal for resale into downstream commodity markets.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Non-Ferrous Metal Recycling Recycling service that accepts, sorts, and processes non-ferrous scrap metals including copper, brass, aluminum, and steel from sellers for resale into commodity markets.
• Copper Scrap Recycling Accepts and recycles copper scrap material from individual sellers and resells processed copper to downstream buyers.
• Brass Scrap Recycling Accepts and recycles brass scrap material from individual sellers and resells processed brass to downstream buyers.
• Aluminum Scrap Recycling Accepts and recycles aluminum scrap material from individual sellers and resells processed aluminum to downstream buyers.
• Steel Scrap Recycling Accepts and recycles steel scrap material from individual sellers and resells processed steel to downstream buyers.

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Direct peers

• SA Recycling: Major U.S. scrap metal recycler focused on ferrous and non-ferrous metals across multiple regional yards. Closely aligned with Rockaway in core product (non-ferrous metals like copper and aluminum) and customer base, but operates at substantially larger scale.
• OmniSource Corporation: Mid-sized U.S. scrap metal processor handling ferrous and non-ferrous materials across the Midwest and beyond. Comparable in product mix and recycling operations, though substantially larger in scale than Rockaway.
• Metalico: Smaller-scale U.S. scrap metal recycler that has historically focused on non-ferrous metals. Comparable as a similarly-sized competitor in the same product category, serving overlapping customer types.

Regional players

• Cohen Recycling (Cohen & Sons): Regional U.S. scrap metal recycler operating in the Mid-Atlantic/Northeast with similar focus on ferrous and non-ferrous scrap. Comparable in size and operating model to Rockaway's likely regional footprint.
• Upstate Shredding – Ben Weitsman & Son: Large privately-held Northeast U.S. scrap metal processor handling ferrous and non-ferrous materials including copper, aluminum, and steel. Geographic and product-line overlap with Rockaway makes it a strong regional comparable.

Broad incumbents

• Waste Management Inc. Largest U.S. waste services company operating recycling facilities that recover metals alongside other recyclables. Comparable as a large incumbent that competes in materials recovery but with a much broader portfolio and indirect overlap with specialized non-ferrous recyclers.
• Sims Limited: Global scrap metal recycler with significant U.S. operations. Directly comparable as a competitor for non-ferrous scrap supply and downstream metal recovery, though with broader geographic reach and deeper processing capabilities.
• EMR (European Metal Recycling): Global metal recycling company with U.S. operations. Comparable business model around scrap collection, sorting, and resale of ferrous and non-ferrous metals including copper and aluminum.
• Radius Recycling (formerly Schnitzer Steel Industries): One of the largest U.S. ferrous and non-ferrous scrap metal recyclers with nationwide yard and mill operations. Comparable because Rockaway competes in the same end markets (copper, aluminum, steel scrap) but at vastly larger scale and broader geographic footprint.
• Republic Services: Major U.S. solid waste and recycling company with metals recycling operations. Comparable as a broader waste-management incumbent that competes for recyclable metals streams, though recycling is a small fraction of its overall business.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/RockRecycling
• Facebookfacebook.com/RockRecycling
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/rockaway-recycling

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Rockaway Recycling