Commodity Resource & Environmental, Inc.
Historical Highlights
1980: Commodity Resource & Environmental, Inc. (CRE) founded (than as Commodity Refining Exchange, Inc.) by current CEO, Larry DeWitt. Total employees = 4.
1981/1982: Installed melting furnaces for silver flake and drying ovens and ball-mills for preparation of silver bearing metallic replacement cartridges as well as a fire assay lab. Total employees = 8
1983: Constructed film washing system in North Hollywood, CA for the recovery of silver from scrap photographic materials such as X-Ray film and lithographic films. Total employees = 12
1986: Acquires the Mojave, California 4 ½ acre silver & gold refining/smelting facility, including property and assets, from Sogem Precious Metal Co. (an affiliate of Belgium based Societe Generale).
1986: Relocated North Hollywood film wash system and refining equipment to newly acquired Mojave facility.
1986: Corporate headquarters relocated to Burbank, CA. Total CRE Employees=35
1987/1988: Designed and constructed a new silver recovery film wash system at Mojave facility capable of processing over 15,000,000 pounds annually of scrap film.
1990: Acquires certain silver recovery & refining assets and goodwill from DC Holdings, Anaheim, CA (formerly Duro Refining).
1991: Commodity Refining Exchange, Inc. begins operating under the dba of Commodity Resource & Environmental, Inc (CRE) to better reflect the expanded environmental and refining services offered to the marketplace.
1991: Silver refining and film recycling services expanded to include licensed hauling and treatment of hazardous photo solutions, ink & solvent waste hauling, and aluminum litho plate brokering . Total employees = 35.
1991-1998: CRE is instrumental in working with the California legislature (AB-646, AB-1636, AB- 1772 & SB-2111), and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), which the passage(s) of these Bills substantially reduced regulation and permit requirements, and costs, for the on-site (silver recovery) and off-site treatment (silver refining) of photographic wastes.
1994: Selected to provide licensed hazardous waste storage, hauling & treatment of photo waste solution for all National and International news networks covering and processing film at the World Cup Soccer Games at Pasadena’s Rose Bowl stadium.
1994: Receives 2 year contract from U.S. Department of Defense for the treatment and silver reclamation of up to 2,000,000 pounds of scrap X-Ray and aerial reconnaissance films. Total employees = 50.
1995: Designs, fabricates, delivers and assists in the installation of a 500,000 pound per month film washing/silver recovery/refining system (contract value $800,000) to Madras, India for a major plastic recycler headquartered in Bombay, India.
1996: Opened CRE Northern California District Office and Sales & Service Center in San Jose, CA.
1997: Awarded Qualex photo solution hauling services & silver refining in West Region.
1998: Launches initial CRE web site www.creweb.com.
2000: Changes formal corporate name to Commodity Resource & Environmental, Inc.
2000: Establishes and launches a nationwide mail-in program for recycling spent One-Time-Use Cameras.
2001: Acquires certain silver recovery assets and goodwill from Silver Systems, Phoenix, AZ. Simultaneously opened CRE Arizona/Nevada District Sales & Service Center (Phoenix).
2002: Acquires certain silver recovery assets and goodwill from Silver Related Services, Calabasas, CA.
2003: CRE develops an all inclusive nationwide mail-in program for a dental office silver recovery unit (Dental Silver Mine) which includes silver refining.
2003: Appoints Don Buckles as Vice President and Corporate Secretary (joined CRE in 1993.)
2004: Acquires Environmental Recovery Systems, Torrance, CA.
2004: Appoints Chuck Yohn as Vice President/National Sales (joined CRE in 1992.)
2005: Awarded bid from Major Photo Lab Chain for One-Time-Use Camera Recycling Program.
2005: CRE hits a milestone by recycling 5,000,000 single use cameras.
2006: Launched Document Destruction Program
2007: Received silver refining contract from Major drug store chain with 5,000+ one-hour photo labs.
2008: Began Mojave building expansion including new assay lab, Document Destruction building, Film Segregation building, Storage building and Film Chopping building (through 2014.) Destruction capabilities include paper, mixed-media, hard drives, X-Ray film (and associated radiographic records.)
2010: Redesign CRE website
2010: Sales team attends Shred School provided by Total Training Services
2010: Stacy Aesoph, Executive Vice President is elected a CRE Corporate Officer (joined CRE in 1993.)
2011: CRE becomes the first silver refiner worldwide to receive AAA Certification from the prestigious National Association of Information Destruction (NAID). Total employees = 85
2011: Sets monthly volume record in receiving over 2,300,000 gross pounds of scrap X-Ray film for refining in single month.
2013: Appoints Stacy Aesoph as CRE Corporate President. Stacy joined CRE in 1993 as Sales Manager/Photo and received several promotions throughout the years, most recently as Executive Vice President. CRE founder, Larry DeWitt, continues as CEO.
2013: Recycle a total of 15,000,000 One-Time-Use Cameras.
2014: Continued Mojave plant expansion with the addition of new building for increased film chopping and mixed media destruction
2015: Acquires certain assets and goodwill from the Photo Sector (only) of ECS Refining/Conecsus.
2015: Over 35 years, supported members of various associations including
- Photo Marketing Association (PMA)
- Association of Cinema & Video Laboratories (ACVL)
- Association of Professional Color Labs (APCL)
- Independent Photo Imagers (IPI)
- School Portraits of California (SPAC)
- Printing Industries of America (PIA)
- Independent X-Ray Dealers Association (IXRDA)
- Radiological Society of North America (RSNA)
- National Healthcare Distributors (NHD)
- International Precious Metals Institute (IPMI)
- Master Jewelers & Silversmiths Association (MJSA)
- National Association of Information Destruction (NAID)
- Professional Records & Information Services (PRISM)
- American Society of Non Destructive Testing (ASNT)
