Family-owned business recycling Mayo Clinic’s Damon Ramp materials for reuse

ROCHESTER, Minn. (KTTC) – While demolition of the Mayo Clinic Damon patient parking ramp in downtown Rochester is currently underway, a local recycling company is making sure the scraps don’t go to waste.

When downtown, you may hear shattering glass, but there is no wrecking ball in sight because it’s taking a little extra manpower to carefully remove the glass from the building structure to recycle it.

Family-owned Watson Recycling has been in southeast Minnesota for several years, specializing in glass, scrap metal, and automotive recycling.

Five years ago, the company developed a new process to recycle architectural glass, steel, and aluminum.

Ahead of the Damon parking ramp demolition, Watson was able to convince the contracting company to let it recycle the glass.

Owner Jeremiah Watson says Mayo Clinic was very supportive of the idea.

“There’s so many buildings that are demolished everywhere, but in Minnesota, none of the glass that is demolished is recycled, like less than 1%,” Watson said.

Watson hopes to encourage more contractors to start recycling their projects. “We are trying to raise a little bit of awareness to other contractors, corporations, and companies.”

The glass collected in the project will be sent to the Watson recycling facility in Albert Lea, where the glass is processed to make new glass products.

It’s estimated that the company was able to collect 250,000 pounds of recycled glass and 1.5 million pounds of steel and aluminum from the project.

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