Pacific Steel and Recycling likes being a small company

What is today Pacific Steel and Recycling started off more that 100 years ago as a fur and hide business.

Dex Nebel, head of the Havre office, told the Chamber luncheon that today his company recycles all kinds of materials, except glass. And it is totally out of the furs and hide business.

Nebel said the company has 47 branches all over the Pacific Northwest, including its facility in Havre.

The company is a small player in the steel and recycling business, he said. Small enough so that he has the CEO’s cellphone number and calls him all the time about business or sports.

Technology is important in today’s changing business world, he said. And the company is adapting to new technologies.

“We are changing the way we do business,” he said.

“The company is 100 percent employee-owned,” he said.

The company provides annual bonuses and several benefits that encourage people to stay with the company, he said.

It also offers employees opportunity to move up the ladder quickly. He said he has moved around several times.

A Great Falls native, he said he and his wife really enjoy life in Havre and have been received well here.

The company is probably best known for its community involvement with Recycle Hi-line.

The group's recycling programs have proven so popular that the monthly drives no longer fit at the old location, the lot at 1st Street and 5th Avenue and have moved to Holiday Village Mall.