Guns turned in during Milwaukee buyback event to be morphed into garden tools

MILWAUKEE - Reclycling huge piles of old metal materials is the botttom line of business at United Milwaukee Scrap.

 

Everything from industrial pieces of equipement to old household appliances come here to be turned into something new.

 

\"It's so important to the environment and economy that this doesn't go into landfills,\" said Art Arnstein, executive vice president.

 

It's also important for Arnstein and the company to create a safe city.

 

\"The things I could do as a child in this area can't be done anymore,\" he said. \"You can't go to a playground and play because gangs are shooting up playgrounds.\"

 

Arnstein said the gun violence has to stop.

 

So Milwaukee scrap metal businesses are putting the competition aside.

 

They've joined forces, giving thousands of their own money to fund a city gun buyback program.

 

It's apart of Mayor Tom Barrett's 10th annual Ceasefire Sabbath week

 

Marty Forman with Midwest Forman Recycling said he's talked to the mayor about it for 10 years.

 

\"I always thought it was a good idea,\" he said. \"Seems to me you can best get involved with what you know and what I know is metal recycling.\"

 

Arnstein said some of the guns collected at the buyback will come back to his business.

 

The destructive metal weapons will be placed into an automated machine, known as the shredder.

 

\"The guns will go through the shredder and they'll end up looking like this, shredded metal,\" he said. \"You don't see aluminum doors or frames or steel in this pile because it's gone through the shredder. So they can't be used on the street as guns anymore once it's gone through our system.\"

 

Then, they'll be re-melted and turned into garden tools.

 

\"What does it take to make a shovel?\" said Forman. \"Just any old kind of steel that we melt down will make a perfectly good shovel to dig a hole in the ground and plant bulbs for flowers or vegetable seeds or young plants.\"

 

Seeds of life, by shredding one gun at a time.

 

That's why Milwaukee scrap metal businesses are Making Milwaukee Great.

 

Anti-violence events for Ceasefire Sabbath week will be May 12-18.