Star Scrap Metal
Family History Becomes Modern Recycling Powerhouse

These insightful words by Gregory Williams resonate strongly with Rose Starow, a recycling industry veteran with over forty years of experience. Being the President of Star Scrap Metal, a certified minority-owned business, Rose has beaten all odds as one of the first women to effectively build, move and lead a thriving business in the traditionally male-dominated recycling industry. Back in 1947, Roses father Theodore Starow, a Holocaust survivor, laid the foundation of this now third-generation scrapyard that further branched out and evolved to what today is called Star Scrap Metal. Since being passed the baton, she has played a pivotal role in taking the company to stellar heights over the decades. In this journey to provide businesses with the best possible recycling services, Rose has had the opportunity to work alongside her two sons, David and Zack Stein, who manage sales and operations.

Star Scrap Metal had been operating at its high-profile location alongside Interstate 5 in La Mirada for almost 70 years, successfully handling its clients scrap metal recycling needs. A few years ago, due to eminent domain proceedings, the company was forced to move from its landmark location and took this as an opportunity to build a state-of-the-art facility in Montebello. The new site is about ten miles northwest of the previous site and is conveniently accessible to all Southern California companies and the Port of Long Beach.

Steering ahead with an ideology that protecting the environment is paramount, Star Scrap Metal has invested over $1 million to have a cutting edge and highly proficient stormwater system installed in the new facility allowing the company to effectively manage environmental liabilities. The facility is packed with updated equipment and systems to improve processing capacity and capabilities.

"Unlike our competitors, who pay at a lower price and do not spend time and labor to segregate mixed materials, we separate the material for our clients but also upgrade, process, and clean it so that they can get the top dollar for it," explains David. With customer-centricity at the core, Star Scrap Metal is known for providing the best prices for excess metal throughout California. For example, if a company wants to get rid of old inventory in its machine shop, Star Scrap Metal can go well beyond just cutting and scrapping it. Star Scrap Metal offers maximum value to its clients by selling their usable surplus material and passing on the extra premium and profit for that material to the client directly.

"We are a very hands-on business, and we go above and beyond to help our clients. We're not like other competitors where we downgrade client's pricing. Instead, we actually process, upgrade, and export our material ourselves so that our clients avoid selling to a middleman dealer and earn the higher pricing directly," notes David. He recalls a successful client engagement where Star Scrap Metal helped its client scrap out their inventory and offered them three times the value of scrap by finding a buyer for their material. "We go the extra mile for our clients and refer them to other outlets where they can sell their material above scrap rates and earn premiums," adds David.

Driven by the commitment to offering unparalleled customer service, Star Scrap Metal has become a renowned name in Southern California and the nearby regions, catering to industries such as aerospace, automotive, manufacturing, and demolition. "Our aim is to take away our clients' worries around scrap metal recycling. We want them to focus on their business and let us oversee their recycling program," says David.

Star Scrap Metal is highly focused on the safety of its team and clients. "We're very flexible in terms of our facility, staff, and business model, which has been a major reason for us being able to adjust to the world economy and environment, and stay relevant," states David.