A drum crusher crushes differently shaped and/or sized empty containers such as 55 gallon steel drums to facilitate recycling of the material in the make-up of the container. A compacting press actuated by remote controlled hydraulic pressure moves in the axial direction of the drums or containers with sufficient hydraulic pressure to crush the containers to a minimum size. Locating bars facilitate manual, mechanical or gravity feeding of the drums into the crushing apparatus and the manual, mechanical or gravity removal of compacted slugs from the crushing apparatus. Safety apparatus minimizes exposure of personnel to possible hazardous conditions.

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