WHEN M. GLOSSER & Sons Inc. was looking for a high-growth compliment to its McKeesport, Tygart Steel Division, it took a look at areas of growth within the steel industry.

So about two years ago, Glosser began shipping plates from McKeesport to its Donora factory, a 85,000 square foot plant that formerly was part of U.S. Steel's Donora works. There, the plates are assembled into powerful crushers that tightly compress waste so more of it can be stored in the sturdy metal boxes that also are made in Donora.

So far, the fledgling venture accounts for less than 11 percent of the $20 million in revenues collected annually by Tygart and Glosser's other businesses. But a new compactor and escalating landfill fees could help the Donora plant, which employs 30, blossom into a $20 million or $30 million business within five or ten years, said Executive Vice President Ray Lackner.

The new compactor uses 30,000 pounds of force to flatten milk jugs, paint cans, packaging and other kinds of waste. Chambers Development Co. is testing a model that can be attached to the back of a recycling truck. Lackner said the mobile compactor can squeeze about 6,500 one-gallon milk jugs into a metal box the size of a tractor trailer's sleeper cab.

The more recycled plastic that can be squeezed into the box, the fewer trips Chamber's drivers must make to the company's Strip District recycling center to unload. Lackner is enthusiastic about the compactor. "We just have to get the product marketed and hope our patent holds," he said.

Lackner, a former accountant with National Steel, hopes the new compactor will broaden Glosser's market, which has been limited to Pennsylvania and neighboring states.

Glosser is trying to expand a business at a time when container and compactor manufacturers are going through "a moderate to severe recession," said John Legler, director of equipment and safety programs for the National Solid Waste Management Association.

"It is a tough market. The people that survive are ones that come up with innovative answers and have money to do research and development."

Rosy forecasts of strong growth for waste-related businesses attracted many players. Others jumped in because they thought it would be easy to make steel boxes and rams to crush what's inside them.

"We've got more competition than we used to have," said Howard Magness, a sales coordinator for Marathon Equipment of Vernon, Ala. "It looks easy. It looks simple...but it's not quite that simple."

Lackner said Daniel Glosser, the third generation to run the family-owned business, has a track record of building successful businesses from scratch. Glosser started Emglo Products Corp., an air compressor business, in 1957 and built it into a $40 million company before selling it last year, Lackner said.

Moses Glosser, the founder of the company, was the brother of the Glosser who started the Glosser Bros. retail empire that was done in by a 1985 leverage buyout. Moses Glosser's fortunes were built on a scrap business he started in 1899 and still operates in Johnstown. His descendants bought bankrupt Tygart Steel in 1983. Glosser also owns steel service centers in Johnstown and Harrisburg and sells pumps and compressors made by Ingersoll-Rand and other manufacturers.

Lackner is confident the compactor business will grow because of ever-increasing fees businesses pay to dispose of their garbage. Some landfills charge by weight; others charge by volume.

Businesses that pay by volume realize the greatest savings by using a compactor. Businesses that pay by the pound also will save. They'll be able to fit more trash in their dumpsters, which means their trash company won't have to pick up the trash as often.

Lackner said the mobile recycler being tested by Chambers can cram more trash into a smaller space than other compactors, costs less and is easier to maintain.

Marathon's Magness, whose company makes competing products from Tygart Steel, was impressed-but skeptical-of Glosser's claims.

"I don't think anyone can do that. That would be a big deal if it could be done."

Lackner said Daniel Glosser is patient enough to stick with the business while the company builds product recognition.