Tried the Rest? It’s Time for the Best: Cremation Recycling

If you ask Kevin McKay why so many deathcare facilities eventually choose Cremation Recycling as their primary partner for post-cremation recycling services, you might hear a story about … steak. 

“Imagine never having steak in your life,” McKay says, “and you have a steak at Denny’s. You would think, ‘That’s steak.’ And if you never went to Gibson’s in Chicago or Morton’s, you’d never know what real steak tastes like.”

It’s actually a particularly delicious way to say, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” And in this case, if you don’t know how much more money you’d make or how your level of service would improve by giving Cremation Recycling a try, you’re missing out on the prime rib or Wagyu of precious metal recycling.

Don’t settle for chuck roast

Since McKay joined Mid-States Recycling in 2016, post-cremation recycling has grown from a niche process to a mainstream operation, with more than 95% of crematories taking advantage of the additional revenue stream recycling offers. Even 10 years ago, crematory owners were largely unaware of the significant returns that were possible. This disparity led Mid-States to create their Cremation Recycling division dedicated to educating those owners and allow them to capitalize on this opportunity, with McKay leading the charge. 

Today, he’s continuing this mission with his 23 years of experience through Cremation Recycling: To ensure these crematory owners get the most money possible for their precious metals. They do this through a combination of best practices, including stark transparency, flat fees, cutting-edge equipment, and 40-plus years in business as a precious metal recycler. It’s these reasons that Cremation Recycling is the preferred provider of recycling services for hundreds of facilities and is trusted by the largest national operators.

Metals aren’t apples

So how do you know if Cremation Recycling is right for you, too? It’s simple: Just give McKay a call, and he’ll send you a Cremation Recycling drum to fill. After your metals are processed, you’ll receive a comprehensive assay report explaining precisely what was contained in your drum, along with a check. It’s that easy. Chances are you’ll see a bigger number on that check than what you’re receiving from your current provider. 

McKay recommends this rather than the alternative — telling him how much money you’re making now. 

“Don’t show me your poker hand here,” he says. “Don’t send me a competitor’s settlement statement which is letting me know where your expectations are. Additionally,

I have no idea what was actually sent to that recycler, and we have found in virtually every case that the competitor’s report is less a comprehensive assay report and more of an exercise in creative writing.”

As McKay explains, it’s easy to compare apples to apples — or the prices of headphones online compared to the price at the airport — no two drums of cremation metal will be identical, so your exact return on each won’t be the same, either. However, if you’re not ready to send a typical drum load, McKay can use his years of knowledge to estimate an average return based on your volume and demographics. 

Helping you make more 

With 40 years of metal recycling experience as Mid-States, Cremation Recycling isn’t afraid to pull back the proverbial curtain on its 19,000-square-foot licensed EPA-compliant recycling facility and be completely honest and open about its processes. In fact, many crematory clients have visited the headquarters in Des Plaines, Illinois.

“They’re always welcome to come for a tour,” McKay says. “They see what is involved in the smelting and sampling process and also what an actual assay process looks like, and how involved the assay is. They see the chemist who’s doing it and the time it takes to do it properly. And once they’ve experienced it, they understand how complex and costly it must be to be done right.”

In order to help crematories maximize their collection efforts, McKay and his team want to help you find as much of the metal as possible, which sometimes requires a new piece of equipment.

“Over the last five years, we’ve placed over 200 new separating processors in our clients’ crematories,” he explains. “This piece of equipment significantly helps crematories find all of the small bits of metal that are potentially very valuable. We’ll work with clients to help place one with no upfront costs; we’ll even do an interest-free lease with no markup. If they’re missing any metal, we need to be able to find that, and this piece of equipment has taken people from 0 to 100.”

Hungry yet?

Now that we’ve talked about mouthwatering steaks and delicious apples, you might be hungry for more … information from Kevin McKay and Cremation Recycling! It’s easy to find out; just give McKay a call at (847) 298-0010 or email kmckay@cremationrecycling.com. He’ll send you a drum at no charge, with no obligation. There’s never a contract for using Cremation Recycling’s metal refining services. They even pay your shipping and insurance costs. 

McKay promises that initial call or email will result in a straightforward, no-stress conversation.

“We don’t need to haggle over rates,” he says. “We charge everyone the same flat percentage and a standard melt and assay fee, which affords us the ability to be honest and transparent. Let me show you how we operate. You owe it to yourself as a business owner to not just stick with somebody because you think it might be good. You should give us a shot.”