**Podcast: Conversations on the Scrap Industry**

**Introduction**

This one’s a long time coming. Bo, how you doing, man?

**Bo:**
I’m good.

**Host:**
Doing good. How long have we known each other?

**Bo:**
I think I’ve been with BNK 14 years. So, you fish, but I met you before then. I met you when you were with grandpa.

**Host:**
Yeah, you might have been dumping our cans.

**Bo:**
I remember meeting you. You guys all like a trailer.

**Host:**
Oh, yeah.

**Bo:**
And like, oh man. I was like real green, so I didn’t know [ __ ].

**Host:**
I was green, too. I was just following what grandpa was doing.

**Bo:**
Yeah. That’s when I met you, man. And now now we’ve been working together for 14, 15 years. You know, it’s been an honor and can’t wait to share what the BNK boys been up to, man, cuz you guys are just killing it in Oregon. So, people that don’t know you, Bo, give us your story. Let’s hear it.

**Getting to Know Bo**

**Bo:**
Uh, born in a small town in Eastern Oregon called John Day. Family moved to Pendleton in the mid-90s. Grew up there. I’ve got two younger brothers and then my folks. We just did our thing like any normal family would.

**Host:**
All boys, huh?

**Bo:**
All boys.

**Host:**
Okay.

**Bo:**
Yep. And then uh you know, I’ve got a grandpa that was in the scrap business forever. He started at Amalgamated Sugar. He was in charge of maintenance and stuff like that. So, him and my father hauled product for years. I’ve always been around the junk side of things. It kind of got me interested. It was always something different and fun.

**Path to the Scrap Business**

**Bo:**
Next thing you know, I’m in high school. I’ve got a driver’s license. You got to make some money. I started playing with scrap.

**Host:**
What did he like about it back then?

**Bo:**
Instant gratification, money. Instant cash, quick. You don’t gotta work two weeks.

**Host:**
Especially as a young kid.

**Bo:**
Yeah. I went and I’d do something, you know, and load that steel up and haul it in the next day or the same day and get paid for it.

**Host:**
Where were you getting steel from?

**Bo:**
I had a few businesses in town. I had a pallet business actually, so I was in the recycling industry.

**Host:**
Were you doing pallets before you hauled scrap?

**Bo:**
It was kind of a mix. But the pallet business catapulted me because I had to buy equipment, buy the trailer, get the pickup. I had to put things in place to do that business and operate it.

**Host:**
And once you kind of have the tools, it was like, well, I can haul scrap just as easy as I can haul pallets.

**Bo:**
And so it just became another supplemental portion of the business.

**Scrap Industry Insights**

**Bo:**
We didn’t have a scrapyard in Pendleton. I did a lot of traveling. Hauled it to Hermiston and Lagrand. During the summers, I’d come down and stay with grandpa.

**Host:**
So, you also learn early that taking care of problems, you also have to make more money than you’re spending.

**Bo:**
Correct.

**Host:**
I remember a story with Sam Ramirez teaching you a lesson.

**Bo:**
Yeah, I got a little overzealous and ended up stuffing a car full of plastic. It was a learning experience, to say the least.

**Host:**
It’s all part of the industry — learning who your mentors are and asking questions.

**Bo:**
Definitely.

**Educational Path**

**Host:**
So you went to college. What was your experience with that?

**Bo:**
Went to Blue Mountain in Pendleton. Started on a business degree but ended with a livestock production degree. Scrap metal paid for college.

**Host:**
Would you go back to college if you could do it again?

**Bo:**
Oh yeah. I think college taught me some invaluable skills.

**Host:**
It’s an interesting debate nowadays, the value of college, especially considering job placement in the exact field of study.

**Business Growth and Challenges**

**Bo:**
After college, I got an offer from a scrap company as a buyer but had some financial issues on their end, which led me to make a tough decision to leave.

**Host:**
That must have been hard, but sometimes the best decisions are the toughest ones.

**Bo:**
Eventually, I reached out to Brett for a position. There wasn’t one initially, but everything happens in due course.

**United Scrap and BNK Development**

**Bo:**
I ended up meeting Brett and Jake, and we worked on setting up the new yard in Lagrand. Then moved to developing more locations, even through failures, and expanding into Baker.

**Host:**
Sounds like a real entrepreneurial journey.

**Bo:**
Absolutely.

**Host:**
And now, with Pendleton, do you feel it’s a dream realized?

**Bo:**
Definitely been a journey, but it feels good right back where I started.

**Final Thoughts**

**Host:**
Any last thoughts for listeners?

**Bo:**
Stay safe, stay classy, keep on recycling.

**Host:**
Thank you, Bo. It’s been great having you.

**Bo:**
Thank you.

[Music]