Success Story - At Work
Harry’s Auto Wrecking (Grande Prairie)
When Randy Montgomery started working in his family-owned auto wrecking yard in the early 1970s, he wanted to buck the “junk yard” image associated with the business.
“I was always kind of embarrassed to be the junk yard guy,” said Montgomery. “But I’ve gone out of my way to prove that wrong.”
Recycling has become a key part of turning that image around. Montgomery’s Grand Prairie wrecking facility has become a veritable recycling machine, with all his 20-plus employees taking part in more than 30 recycling activities outside of recycling auto parts. That includes putting timers on lights, using CFL bulbs, re-using paper up to four times, and using a Canadian-made environmentally friendly hand cleaner for washing hands instead of phosphate-laden soap.
Montgomery, who was also inspired by his travels to third-world countries, says all businesses have to do is just make the commitment to care.
“It’s easy once you kind of put your mind to it,” he said.
Some of the changes are even saving him money–big money. Switching to programmable thermostats and setting the temperature much lower at night has cut his heating costs by more than $2,000 a month–one-third his total heating bill.
Recycling has become a way of doing business, he adds, and his staff are continuously finding new ways to re-use items they salvage, such as giving lead to a man who uses it to weight sailboats. Most recently, Montgomery has begun to replace his older furnaces with radiating heat models.
“There’s no reason why other businesses can’t do what we are doing,” said Montgomery.
