Embattled scrapyard near school is closed

After years of blasts and dust affecting Jordan High, a judge orders owners of a metal recycler to pay $2 million and cease operations

- BY TONY BRISCOE

WILLIAM LIANG For The Times TOXIC DUST and shrapnel from S&W Atlas Iron & Metal in Watts posed hazards for the school next door.

A Los Angeles County judge ordered the owners of a troubled metal recycling facility to pay $2 million in penalties and permanently cease operations next door to a Watts high school, ending decades-long fears over industrial pollution and dangerous mishaps.

S&W Atlas Iron & Metal had processed scrap metal in Watts since 1949, shredding and baling aluminum cans, steel rims and copper wire. Over that time, students and staff at Jordan High School complained that the facility's operations coated their campus in toxic dust, occasionally pelted outdoor areas with shrapnel and disrupted classes with explosions.

Atlas, along with its father-and-son owners Gary and Matthew Weisenberg, was arraigned two years ago on numerous criminal charges in connection with illegal dumping and handling of hazardous waste between July 2020 and August 2022.

A little more than a year later, a compressed gas canister ignited at the scrapyard, causing a fiery explosion on the first day of school, after which the district attorney's office filed additional charges against the defendants.

The company and the Weisenbergs eventually pleaded no contest to several charges.

During sentencing on Oct. 21, L.A. County Superior Court Judge Terry Bork directed the company to shut down the scrapyard and sign a land covenant that would prohibit future recycling on the site. The owners were also placed on two years of probation and must perform 200 hours of community service.