The story
The company was founded as Alaska Junk Company by Russian immigrant Sam Schnitzer in 1906 as a one-person scrap metal recycler. Between 1947 and 1950, his son Harold Schnitzer worked at the company.
In 1984, the company bought Cascade Steel Rolling Mills, who operated a steel mill in McMinnville, Oregon. Schnitzer purchased eight service centers from U.S. Steel in 1986 for its Metra Steel subsidiary. In 1993, Schnitzer Steel became a public company via an initial public offering.
In January 2003, the company acquired Pick-n-Pull, a chain of automobile scrap yards where consumers can obtain autoparts from scrapped vehicles.
In October 2005, it acquired GreenLeaf Auto Recyclers, which was sold in 2009, and Regional Recycling, a metals recycling business with 10 locations in the Southeastern United States.
In December 2006, the company acquired Advanced Recycling.
In December 2007, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charged former chairman and CEO Robert Philip for violating bribery laws as part of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in relation to dealings with Chinese steel mills.
Tamara Lundgren became the chief executive officer, and John Carter became chairman in November 2008.
In January 2010, the Schnitzer family sold their shares such that their ownership in the company fell below 20%.
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In April 2010, the company acquired Golden Recycling & Salvage, a recycling company in Billings, Montana.
In January 2011, the company acquired State Line Scrap, a recycling company in Attleboro, Massachusetts. In February 2011, it acquired Ferrill's Auto Parts of Seattle.
In 2013, the company moved its headquarters to the KOIN Tower in downtown Portland, Oregon.
The company changed its name to Radius Recycling in July 2023.
In July 2025, the company was acquired by Toyota Tsusho for $1.3 billion.
From Wikipedia’s article on Radius Recycling, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.7