A proud family history in Scrap Metal

CJ Metals was established by Colin Sandham in 2006 having been inspired to do so by his father David. We are now one of West Yorkshire’s finest scrap metal businesses, operating across two locations in Keighley and one in Horbury near Wakefield with a strong family heritage within the scrap metal industry, which started in the 1960's in Bradford.

The early years

David Sandham started working in the Scrap metal Business back in the 1960’s at the tender age of 18, soon opening his first scrap yard once he had learnt the ropes.

As soon as he branched out on his own, David’s business started to expand so he brought in his brother Richard as a partner to help manage and expand the growing scrap metal yard. The yard was extremely successful and very soon David re-located the business to larger premises in order to maintain and manage its growth. This move led to further expansion resulting in another move onto a 5 acre site creating one of the most well equipped state of the art metal recycling yards in the area.

When Colin left school, he started to work in the family business which was now well established. As he became more experienced Colin was given the opportunity to run his own scrap yard for his father and it was clear he had all the attributes necessary to make his own mark in the scrap business industry from that point on. Within a relatively short time the yard that Colin had taken charge of became extremely successful and a major contributor to the overall success of the family business. It was this experience which inspired Colin to take the next logical step in setting up his own scrap metal business.

The birth of CJ Metals

Once Colin had decided to set up his own business, he opened his first yard in Keighley called CJ Metal Recycling Limited. His desire to succeed and hardworking ethic led him to purchase the yard next door due to the success of his growing business. This is where he opened his first car spares/de-pollution unit CJ Metal Recycling Limited Spares.

Colin has always accredited much of his success and good fortune to the support and guidance his parents have given him throughout his life; his mum Jennifer has always been there to help him with sound advice and moral support while his father David was always there to pass on his wisdom, experience and desire to succeed. Sadly Colin’s dad, mentor and best friend David passed away on the 6th November 2009. Colin firmly believes that the success of his company could not have been achieved without his father inspiration and leadership.

On the back of the success in Keighley, CJ Metal Recycling Limited has continued to grow and on 03rd June 2013 Colin proudly opened his third depot at Horbury near Wakefield, with the intention of making this new yard one the most well equipped state of the art recycling facilities in the area.

Colin has grown up within the family business and has always had the support of his father David and his mother Jennifer.

Since the death of his father in 2009, Jennifer has been a huge support to Colin in establishing and growing the CJ Metals business.

Colin spent the first years of his life in and around the Bradford area and enjoyed a typical childhood with the support of a loving family.

The Bradford and surrounding area will always be close to Colin's heart because of the fond memories he holds from his formative years there.

In 2012, in keeping with the family tradition Colin was delighted to introduce his son Reagan into the world of recycling.

Reagan joined the company after leaving school and is currently working at and running CJ Metals non-ferrous department at Horbury.

Colin's younger son Morgan plans to join his brother Reagan in the family business once he has completed his education.

Three generations of Sandhams have worked within the scrap metal industry, something which would have made David immensely proud.