doing business as
employer : Sutter Metals Recycling founded : 2009 location : New flagship location in Tacoma , with “ feeder locations ” in Lacey and Centralia
website : www . suttermetals . com
Sutter Metals Recycling
Sutter Metals opened its doors in 2009 as Lacey Auto Recycling , handling just used auto parts . Owner Chad Sutter has creatively and deliberately expanded since then , opening outlets in Centralia and now a brand new state-of-the-art facility in Tacoma . Sutter sees recycling metals as a way to sustain the planet as well as energize the local community .
Brian Mittge
the story : Chad Sutter grew up watching his father run Nisqually Auto Wrecking . His dad would ask him to get rid of their scrap byproducts . Chad learned that scrap selling was a simple and rewarding process — show up with product , go home with a check . He saw an opportunity to use a more data-driven and systematic process for scrap metal selling . He went off on his own in 2009 , opening a scrap yard in Lacey .
a scrappy start : It was a tough go in a volatile , cash-intensive business . “ I had very , very little to start with . My wife and I did about 20 different calculations ,” he said of those early days . “ We were broke in every calculation in about 60 days . There ’ s something to be said about perseverance .”
a new flagship : Earlier this year , Sutter Metals Recycling opened a 30,000- foot new recycling facility on 3 acres in Tacoma . Fully paved and well-kept , it processes ferrous and non-ferrous metals , everything from copper wire and old freeway street signs to neat stacks of automobiles . It ’ s the newest , greenest recycling facility on the West Coast .
environmental leadership : Recycling metals is the original eco-industry , but Sutter Metals continues to advance the industry . Solar panels power the office section of the new Tacoma headquarters . Eventually he wants to generate all electricity used on site . The company provides its buyers with Tesla batterypowered cars to use on the job . “ That ’ s the whole point and the whole mission of why we ’ re involved in recycling ,” Sutter said . “ It ’ s about living the model of sustainability .”
community connections : Sutter hired a street artist to decorate prominent parts of his new Tacoma facility with colorful representations of the city and region . Sutter is active in community groups , from the Boys & Girls Clubs and the Economic Development Council in Thurston County to endowing a scholarship at his alma mater , St . Michael Parish School .
quote : “ It ’ s a very interesting business . It ’ s not necessarily something I expected to get into , but we ’ ve been very blessed to make a good living for my family and provide opportunity to a lot of people .”
— Chad Sutter , CEO , Sutter Metals Recycling