BUSINESS
25recyclinginternational.com | September/October | 2025
Scrapped,
sorted, melted:
made in Tijuana
Mexico’s ABC Aluminum Solutions doesn’t just recycle aluminium – it transforms scrap into everything
from poolside chairs and window profiles to lightweight vehicles. Recycling International crossed the
US-Mexican border at San Diego to learn more.
The San Ysidro border crossing is well-
known as the busiest checkpoint along
the US – Mexico border, with tens of
thousands of people passing through
every day. Among them are commut-
ers like Mexican Wadih Kuri, who lives
in San Diego but works in Tijuana.
Kuri is ceo and second-generation
owner of ABC Aluminum Solutions, a
major aluminium recycler serving
north-west Mexico and the US state of
California. ‘We’re not just another alu-
minium scrap handler,’ says Kuri dur-
ing a tour of ABC’s facilities in Tijuana.
ALL-IN-ONE
ABC is a so-called vertically integrated
manufacturer delivering end-to-end
aluminium solutions for the automo-
tive, construction, industrial and solar
markets. From billet casting to extru-
sion, fabrication and finishing, every-
thing happens under one roof.
‘We do the whole cycle from collect-
ing, shredding, sorting and cleaning
materials before transforming them
into new products you and I sit on,
lean against or walk past every day,’
says Kuri. ‘Fences, window profiles,
ladders, poolside chairs and even
lightweight vehicles, you name it.’
STARTING FROM SCRAP…
The process begins in a yard where
trucks unload piles of post-consumer
aluminium scrap, sourced across north-
west Mexico and California – every-
thing from broken chairs to discarded
window frames. The aluminium is fed
into a massive shredder followed by a
sorting line. What comes out is a
cleaner raw material.
These shredded pieces then go on a
700-metre conveyor belt to the heart
of the operation: the furnace. Inside,
the aluminium is melted down and
made into billets. The billets are then
heated and pushed through precision
moulds to create new shapes, mostly
long profiles that can be cut, welded
and painted into functional goods.
Some pieces become fencing panels.
Others take on different forms: furni-
ture frames, construction components
and more.
DEEP BELIEF
ABC Aluminum Solutions did not
emerge from a corporate playbook,
says Kuri. ‘It was built through vision,
determination and a deep belief in
what’s possible, beginning in 1991
Fotobijschrift
KADERKOP
??A U T H O R & P H O T O S Martijn Reintjes
Wadih Kuri:
‘We’re not just
another alu-
minium scrap
handler.’
24-25-26-27_alurecycler-tijuana_new.indd 25 10-09-2025 17:23
