From car parts to computers, Brenner Recycling has stayed in business by reusing what people discard for 100 years.
Jason Brenner, the company president, knows it’s rare for one family to run a business for four generations as the Brenners have done.
“Generally by the third generation,” he said, “they start to fade away.”
Or end up on the scrap heap.
Brenner’s started with a scrap heap at 282 S. Wyoming St. in Hazleton and the business hasn’t moved since 1925.
“I know the piece of property was literally my great-grandfather’s backyard,” Jason said.
His great-grandfather, Maurice Brenner, primarily, collected auto parts, selling them back to repair garages and eventually to steel mills.
It was the beginning of a rags-to-riches story even though the market has disappeared for oily rags that Maurice also collected and resold.
To stay in business, the family kept adjusting.
“Each generation put a stamp on it,” said Jason, adding that innovations usually happened soon after each succession so the firm could grow. “It gets us through the next generation.”
Maurice’s sons, Joseph and Myron, and son-in-law Milton, in 1968 added heavy machinery: a shear capable of cutting steel into lengths requested by the mills. Their second shear, purchased in 1978, could condense an automobile in minutes. The current shear generates 1,600 tons of pressure.
Jason’s father, Paul Brenner, and uncle, Leonard Brenner, the third generation to guide the company, added a warehouse and bailer and devised a new layout that remains in use.
Jason has been with the firm for one-tenth of its history.
When he returned to Hazleton after serving eight years as an Air Force officer in 2015, his uncle retired, but his dad stayed at the helm until 2021.
Now Jason is trying to start recycling computers and other electronics.
“We’re at the beginning stages, getting smarter about it,” he said. Using a scale of crawl, walk, run “We’re in the crawl stage.”
Iron and steel, however, account for most of Brenner’s business.
The company, which has 20 employees, also recycles nonferrous metals such as copper, aluminum and brass and cardboard.
Jason said the company sells some commodities overseas so he and the whole scrap industry are watching as the United States resets tariff policies.
“Scrap is a major export of our country. On the surface, it’s reducing the trade deficit on a daily basis,” he said.
At a zoning hearing on July 17, William Rinaldi said if he receives approvals to open a trash transfer station on South Church Street, he wants to take metal to Brenner’s.
Told about that, Jason said: “Generally, scrap yards and transfer stations, we get along.”
Meanwhile, Customers and friends who stop by Brenner’s on Thursday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. can join the employees for lunch. Alta Pizzeria will park its food truck on site.
Anyone who sells scrap will get a ticket for lunch and a coupon for a bonus price for their next visit.
“Thanks a Heap!” for a Century of Support, the company said on its Facebook Page.