The MSMS Foundation received a special gift from Gregg and Welissa Rader in honor of her father, Henry Weiss, to support this year’s Business Plan Competition. The gift makes Columbus Recycle, the local company Weiss founded in 1956, the co-sponsor of this event.
“Mr. Weiss is a great role model for our students,” said Keith Gaskin, MSMS Foundation Executive Director. “His story fits perfectly with the school’s goal to encourage students to focus on finding business solutions to some of the issues facing Mississippi as entrepreneurs.”
Weiss had the vision to start the company, originally known as Columbus Scrap Material, after United Technologies Corporation was established in the region, building small electric motors via its American Bosch brand. Rader and his wife became the owners in 1996. Rader has now retired as CEO of the company.
The company has become one of the Southeast’s leading independent metal recyclers with locations throughout Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky. The company recycles any and all metals, including aluminum, brass, copper, nickel, tin, and zinc. They purchase scrap material from industrial manufacturers that range in size from sole proprietorships and small-haul recyclers to Fortune 500 companies. They process the scrap, which includes cleaning, sorting, compacting, bailing, shearing, and bundling. The product is then sold to foundries, mills, and steel processing facilities where it is recycled into new products. This process helps the environment and supports domestic manufacturing and production. AMM named Columbus Recycle the U.S. Scrap Company of the Year in 2014 and 2015. Not only does the company reroute metals from landfills to productive uses, but they also conserve significant natural resources and dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“We are grateful to the Rader family for their generous gift,” Gaskin added. “Greg and Welissa are involved in a number of community and civic activities and have been very philanthropic in Columbus for many years.”