NARRATOR: Tim and Richard are an SA Recycling at the port of Los
Angeles, where everything from cars to appliances
to even bridges get cut, chopped, and shredded as part
of the recycling process.
Next up, Tim and Richard are headed inside the guillotine.
That's not as grim as it sounds.
They just want a better look at how the giant metal
heaps get to the blade.
Hey, Bob. Nice to meet you.
Good to see you, buddy.
Give me the sequence of how this is working.
We start up the machine.
So you have a left dumper and a right dumper.
Exactly.
Don't we all?
You feel it in here too.
Yeah.
How hard is this to operate?
I wonder, did you ever graduate from school?
Yeah, I got a BFA in theater arts.
Can I operate this? - Definitely.
It's not too hard.
Oh, yes.
Yeah, how do you feel?
This is nice.
You're a theater major.
Add some drama to it.
[music playing]
What won't this cut?
We try to keep away from plates over three inches thick.
We try to keep away from cylinders that might have
a hydraulic fluid inside of it.
- Or propane. - Propane.
Let's get a propane tank and see what happens.
We don't want that happening here.
You know, as fun as this is, Tony,
we've got to get something a little bit
more power if we can.
What's next?
What are we moving on to?
If you guys want, we can go down to the mega shredder.
Mega shredder?
You've got to like-- you stay here, theater boy.
Just do a little Shakespeare in the control room.
[humming]
Thanks, Bob.
NARRATOR: Once you've cut and chopped,
there's really only one thing left to do, and that's shred.
Not your standard office paper shredder,
SA Recycling's mega shredder.
Look at that thing.
It's the most powerful one in Southern California.
All it takes is a push of a button
and this monster is ready to chomp
as many as 600 cars in an hour.
That's some mega power right there.
More power, baby, right up there.
More power.
This is our in-feed conveyor.
That's amazing.
We're feeding some car bodies on so we can pulverize them.
And once we go inside, you'll see exactly how we shred.
And this goes on all day long?
We only do it at night.
We do it from 8:00 PM to 2:00 AM.
You clear this whole thing out?
Down to the ground daily.
Take care of your cars otherwise they end up here.
We are in the control room of the mega shredder.
Mega shredder.
- Mega shredder. - Mega shredder.
This is the most power you have around here, right?
Yes.
This is a 9,000 horsepower motor.
9,000.
This thing can go 0 to 60 in negative 3 seconds.
It can't go anywhere.
NARRATOR: Well, that is not a car anymore.
Yeah, baby, yeah.
[blast]
Whoa.
All right, we're going to shut down.
NARRATOR: Looks like Tim and Richard lucked out today.
Situations like this are extremely rare
thanks to SA Recycling's strict safety protocols.
Fortunately, the shredder is equipped with hoses
to quickly douse the flames.
But wait a minute, that, that's Richard's car.
What?
Oh, now I've got to-- how am I going to get home?
It won't hurt it.
It's a little door ding.
You want-- you want to go ahead and run the shredder.
Oh no.
So, Tim, you're the shredder operator.
You're the SOB.
Of course I am.
I am Tim the Tool Man.
People downstairs going, who's running that now?
Cars are just shooting through here like, whoo, whoo.
Thank you for letting me do this.
- Yeah, buddy. - Now I--
This was really fun.
Just, you know, keep it at a steady speed.
We'll see you later.
[inaudible].
Is someone going to watch this?
Why are they leaving me here alone?