A new approach to sourcing scrap

Relationships drive the recycled metals trade, but disorganised information slows deals. Buddy, set up by Stuart and Lisa Kagan, streamlines the process, giving buyers and suppliers structured tools to expand reach, build trust and trade smarter, without replacing the personal connections that define the industry.

For decades, trading in recycled metals has relied on relationships, trust and the instinctive reading of markets that comes only from experience. Deals are won on credibility, consistency and the ability to deliver – built over years and tested in minutes. Whether the supplier is 50 miles away or 5 000, trust remains the foundation of any deal.

But the context around those relationships has changed. Volatility has shortened decision cycles. Global buying demands more information, faster. And while the industry is more connected than ever, the data that underpins the trade is still scattered across inboxes, text messages, spreadsheets and memory.

Into that gap comes Buddy, a marketplace and trade operating system focused on scrap metal. The company positions itself as part of a new class of ‘trust-and-workflow’ tools: platforms designed to bring structure to how counterparties find each other and negotiate and execute deals without losing the relationship-first nature of the trade.

WHO OWNS THE RELATIONSHIP?

Buddy draws a firm line between a marketplace that connects counterparties and a model that inserts itself into the transaction. In Buddy’s framing, the key question is simple: ‘Who owns the relationship?’. In a managed marketplace, the platform owns it – matching and mediating while obscuring the visibility of the counterparty. Buddy is a different proposition: a relationship-led marketplace where the platform provides structure and guardrails while buyers and suppliers remain visible to each other and can build repeat trade directly as trust develops.

YARD EXPERIENCE

Buddy’s co-founders Stuart and Lisa Kagan are not outsiders looking in. They have built the product from inside the trade, drawing on yard-floor experience, trading discipline and the operational reality that sits behind every offer. Stuart started in a yard and worked his way up to executive director, running trading and operations for the largest metal recycler in sub-Saharan Africa – an enterprise spanning 85 yards with multiple mega-shredders and more than 4 000 employees. More recently, he has built a public voice in the sector as host of the industry podcast ‘Born Scrappy’ and through speaking at global industry events.

BETTER INFRASTRUCTURE

Lisa brings a systems-builder’s lens. As a Deloitte management consultant, she worked on the early development of TymeBank, an emerging-markets digital bank that has since reached unicorn status. She brought that experience into metal recycling, designing and building the brand and proprietary digital infrastructure that enabled the couple to rapidly scale a greenfield recycling operation in New Zealand. Now leading a venture-backed business, the couple’s premise is straightforward: the trade doesn’t have to become less human; it needs better infrastructure to support how people already work.

EXPOSURE TO NEW CUSTOMERS

For recyclers, one of the key benefits is reach: getting material in front of a wider pool of qualified buyers, faster. Derrick Brion of Clayton County Recycling points to market reach: ‘It’s the best way to get in front of people that you might have never had the chance to meet,’ he says. ‘Exposure to new customers is the biggest difference Buddy has made for me.’ Blaine Cash of Recycle Management highlights ease and responsiveness: ‘I love the ability to hit one button and say, buy my metal. It’s so easy to post something one time and have enough buyers come in and say, I want this product.’ Put simply, it turns one listing into a wider market test – more qualified buyers seeing it at once, and quicker clarity on where the price really sits.

MORE INFORMED

For global buyers, the pain point is rarely desire; it’s securing volume. Buddy’s central promise to buyers is to make sourcing more inbound and more informed. This works in two directions. On the one hand, recyclers list the material they have available and the platform matches it to relevant buyers. On the other, buyers can signal what material they’re looking for by posting directly to an in-app newsfeed for suppliers to stimulate inbound supply. In practical terms, that can mean expanding the basket of goods buyers source from existing suppliers, while widening their supplier base beyond relationships already in place.

GUIDED BY THE APP

For buyers operating internationally, one of the hardest things to judge is a supplier’s operational reality without physically being there. Reputation travels but not always fast enough – and rarely in full. Buddy says it tackles that ‘distance-trust’ problem through a vetting process and media-rich supplier profiles. For exporters, in particular, that includes a physical yard visit and a video walkthrough as part of the supplier’s in-app profile, giving buyers a clearer view of the operation behind the offer.

Jawed Ahmed, ceo at Saudi Arabia’s Al Qaryan International DMCC, describes how that changes the daily routine for his buying team: ‘My traders open the app and see what material is available. We’re comfortable offering because the suppliers have been vetted and we can actually see who we’re buying from.’

SERIOUS BUYERS ONLY

Buyers can join for free and are charged 0.5% of the value of each successful transaction. Buddy also monitors participation and removes buyers using the platform for lead generation rather than actively offering and trading. It also enforces a one-strike policy for buyers who attempt to solicit suppliers outside the system. These are guardrails designed to protect marketplace integrity: suppliers must feel they are dealing with serious buyers, and buyers need to know they are competing in an environment where behaviour is visible and repeatable.

FULL PACKAGE

Like any marketplace, the model is ultimately tested when deals go sideways. Buddy’s platform organises information around the trade itself, bringing communications, images and key deal details into one structured place. When a claim arises, Buddy says it automatically provides the relevant details, reducing ‘he-said, she-said’ friction and turning disputes into an easy-to-resolve, evidence-based process. Accountability mechanisms such as ratings and reviews also play a role. The underlying thesis is simple: when performance history follows someone, their behaviour improves.

LIQUIDITY BUILT OVER TIME

No marketplace is uniformly liquid across every grade, geography and season – especially in an industry as fragmented as metals recycling. Some corridors will be busier than others and certain grades will naturally concentrate where buyer demand is deepest. In other words, the model tends to be most valuable where activity is forming, and less decisive where supply is thin or highly idiosyncratic. That’s not a contradiction; it’s the normal pattern of marketplace adoption. Liquidity is built over time, trade by trade, as counterparties learn where a platform fits within existing relationships, and as the platform proves consistently that it can support deals when conditions are less than perfect.
Buddy has more than 100 suppliers across North America selling on the platform. At the time of writing, the company lists roughly 6 800 tonnes of non-ferrous material monthly.

WORKFLOW CHANGE

Scrap trading will always be relationship-led. No interface can replace earned intuition. But the workflow around those relationships is changing – towards ongoing inbound visibility, clearer signals, and tools that let buyers both respond to supply and actively stimulate it. As sourcing becomes more inbound and trade records more structured, platforms that help suppliers find a home for their metal – and help buyers find reliable, quality supply – are beginning to define the next operating standard. In that environment, the real risk may not be adopting new tools too early but adopting them too late.