Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc., the 117-year-old Portland metal recycling company, said Wednesday it would scrap the name it borrowed from its founder and rebrand as Radius Recycling.

(The firm has a shop in Bend, as well).

The company now known as Radius is among Oregon’s largest publicly traded firms, with $3.6 billion in revenue last year. Listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, the company said it would change its ticker symbol from SCHN to RDUS in September, the start of its next fiscal year.

It said in its announcement that the new name better reflects its role in the “circular economy,” a term that refers to the reuse and resale of products and materials. It also omits the previous name’s reference to steel, reflecting its broader metals business. The company says it’s enjoying a boost thanks to a shift away from a carbon-powered economy, and that electric cars and renewable energy technology both require more metals than the technologies they aim to replace.

It previously reported that its last fiscal year was the second-best in its history. It had $172 million in profits in 2022, up 1.2% from the year prior.

It saw a dip in sales during the 2022 calendar year, though, as metal prices fell along with demand. Despite improvement, its third-quarter revenues, reflecting March through May of this year, fell nearly 20% year-over-year.

The company was founded by Sam Schnitzer in 1906, and the next generation of Schnitzers grew the company into a metal recycling empire. His descendants gave up their control of the company in 2010, selling off millions of shares.

The company today employs nearly 3,500, mostly in the U.S. Its Portland operations include not only its headquarters in KOIN Tower, but also a port terminal where it collects, shreds and exports scrap metal. It operates a Cascade Steel mill in McMinnville.

The company now known as Radius is among Oregon’s largest publicly traded firms, with $3.6 billion in revenue last year. Listed on the NASDAQ stock exchange, the company said it would change its ticker symbol from SCHN to RDUS in September, the start of its next fiscal year.