Our History

From a two-truck garage on May Street in Chicago, to one of the Midwest’s largest scrap companies, Acme Refining has come a long way. Here are some of the changes we’ve seen over the years.

1973 Lou Baron founded Acme Refining
1975 Larry Baron, Lou’s Son, joined the business as salesman
1979 Bought May St. garage
1981 Iris Baron, Lou’s daughter, joined sales team
1984 Relocated to 34th & Justine (current corporate office)
1988 Opened first steel yard at 38th & Racine and stared processing steel
1992 The first of six acquisitions
1998 Brett Baron, Larry’s son, joins sales team
2000 Started strategically adding scrap yards
2004 Received ISO certification
2004 Lindsey Baron, Larry’s daughter, joins Acme Administrative staff
2004 Brett Baron starts Demolition Division
2005 Added Document Destruction Division
2006 350 Employees, 150 Trucks, 6 Yards
2007 Acme receives Loyola Family Service Award for Community Service
2007 Acme receives Blue Island Business of the Year Award
2008 Acme acquires US Scrap & Recycling in South Bend, Indiana
2008 Fox Business News features Acme Refining in news segments that run all day long
2008 Acme Receives Illinois Recycling Coalition “Recycler of the Year” Award