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Inmetco, a wholly owned subsidiary of Inco in Ellwood City, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was opened in 1978 to provide an alternative to landfills for metal-bearing wastes generated by the specialty steel industry. Today, the company is the leading recycler of metal-bearing wastes in North America and the only facility in North America providing high temperature metal recovery for nickel-cadmium (NiCd) and nickel metal hydride (NiMH) rechargeable batteries.
The nickel and iron recovered become part of Inmetco's remelt alloy product, which is returned to specialty steel manufacturers for use in making stainless steel. Meanwhile, cadmium from the recycling process is returned to Ni-Cd battery manufactures for reuse in the production of new batteries.
To promote recycling of rechargeable batteries – and further reduce landfill – Inmetco has partnered with Atlanta-based Rechargeable Battery Recycling Corporation (RBRC). A non-profit public service organization, RBRC, as part of its Charge Up to Recycle!© program, retrieves spent rechargeable batteries from consumer depots at more than 30,000 retail stores and community solid waste centres across the United States and Canada. Since 1994, the company has shipped more than 9,000 tonnes of rechargeable batteries to Inmetco for recycling.
In total, Inmetco has diverted more than 1.3 million tonnes of material from North America's waste stream since it was founded. In 2002, the company recovered more than
3,729 tonnes of chromium, 18,613 tonnes of iron, 3,655 tonnes of nickel and 220 tonnes of molybdenum. The company also recovers smaller quantities of zinc, lead and cobalt.
Inmetco has received a number of notable awards for its recycling efforts over the years, including the Pennsylvania Governor's Waste Minimization Award. The United States Environmental Protection Agency designated the company's high-temperature metals recovery process as Best Demonstrated Available Technology for metal-bearing wastes generated by the specialty steel industry as well as for spent NiCd batteries.
Ken Money, Inmetco's President, strongly believes that “through the Inmetco recycling facility, Inco continues to demonstrate its commitment to the principles of sustainable development and product stewardship.”
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