May 27, 2014. The Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility is a processing center for New York City's curbside metal, glass, and plastic recyclables which is being undertaken by Sims Municipal Recycling and the City of New York. Located on an 11 acre waterfront pier in Sunset Park, the design was influenced by its. SRS offers a coordinated e-waste recycling and IT asset disposition (ITAD) solutions with a high focus on data security, regulatory and corporate compliance, value recovery and sustainability. With processing facilities throughout the Americas, EMEA and APAC, SRS is well-placed to directly support multi-site national and global companies. Sims Municipal Recycling provides recycling services for NYC recovering metal, glass, plastic and paper from curbside collection programs. Our Brooklyn recycling center is the largest commingled recycling facility in North America.

1. Sims Recycling Center
2. Sims Municipal Recycling

• Architects

• Location

  Brooklyn, NY, USA

• Category

• Area

  140000.0 ft2

• Project Year

• Photographs

  Nikolas Koenig, Marc Lins, Jonathan Chesley, John Majors

Text description provided by the architects. The Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility is a processing center for New York City’s curbside metal, glass, and plastic recyclables which is being undertaken by Sims Municipal Recycling and the City of New York. Located on an 11 acre waterfront pier in Sunset Park, the design was influenced by its programmatic use as a recycling center which inspired reuse throughout.

The masterplan organizes buildings to support functionality, creates distinct circulation systems to safely separate visitors from operations, and adds two acres of native plantings. Buildings are also organized to create the site’s own urban context. The 140,000 sf facility includes a Tipping Building, where recyclables arrive by barge and truck; Processing Building that houses more than $25,000,000 in complex sorting equipment, as well as electrical compressor, fire pump, and supervisor rooms; Bale Storage Building served by eight loading docks; and a building for personnel (lunch room, locker rooms, offices) and an Education Center.

The Education Center is one of the project’s most unique features. The structure contains programs for school children and the public including classrooms, exhibitions, and interactive demonstration displays. A key element of the design is a steel bridge which connects the Education Center to a viewing platform inside the Processing Facility. The viewing platform allows students and visitors to see the recycling process in action.

Working within a pre-engineered building, one of the design challenges was to find ways to articulate the program and give an overall expression to the facility that would distinguish it from ordinary big box construction. In response, structural elements are inverted to appear on the exterior, giving steel girders and lateral bracing a greater visual impact.

The facility makes a major environmental contribution by delivering recyclables by barge—a strategy which minimizes the distance collection trucks must travel and eliminates 240,000 miles of annual vehicle travel from roadways. Recycled materials are used throughout: site fill is made from a composite of recycled glass, asphalt, and rock reclaimed from the Second Avenue subway construction; buildings are made from recycled steel; and plazas are finished with recycled glass. Other sustainable measures include the largest application of photovoltaics in New York City, a wind turbine which generates 15% of the facility’s power, and bioswales for stormwater management.

Sims Metal Management Ltd is the leading metals and electronics recycling company in the world. The company specializes in ferrous and non-ferrous metals recycling, post-consumer electronic goods recycling, and municipal waste recycling. Founded in 1917, its primary operations are located in the United States (where it is now headquartered), Australia (where the company was founded and its stock listing remains), and the UK.^[2]

• 2Divisions

History[edit]

The firm was established in 1917 by Albert Sims, a recycled metals dealer in Sydney, Australia. The business was incorporated as Albert G. Sims Limited in 1928 and was renamed Simsmetal Limited in November 1968. In November 1970, Sims merged with Consolidated Metal Products Limited and the merged ASX, listed company was named Sims Consolidated Limited. In May 1979, Sims Consolidated Limited was acquired by Peko-Wallsend Limited and subsequently delisted.^[3]

In February 1988, Sims entered the US scrap recycling market through the acquisition of LMC Corporation, located in the state of California. In August 1988, Sims Consolidated Limited was acquired by North Limited (previously known as North Broken Hill Holdings Limited, and then North Broken Hill Peko Limited).^[4] In 1989, North Limited sold the business to Elders Resources NZFP Limited, a diversified resources company.^[5] In 1990, Carter Holt Harvey Limited made a successful takeover bid for Elders Resources NZFP Limited and divested that company’s non-forestry businesses, which included Sims.^[6] Sims changed its name to Simsmetal Limited in 1990 and relisted on the ASX in November 1991.^[7]

In August 1992, Sims expanded its presence in New Zealand through the merger of its business there with the ferrous recycling operations owned by Pacific Steel Industries, a Fletcher Building Limited company. This joint venture, known as Sims Pacific Metals Limited, operates throughout New Zealand.^[8]

In February 1995, Sims acquired a 51% ownership interest in Sims Bird Limited in the UK, which was its first major entry in the UK scrap metal market. The company acquired the remaining 49% of Sims Bird Limited in May 1998. In April 2000, Sims acquired Phillip Services (Europe) Limited in the UK, which significantly increased its presence in that market.^[9]Teamspeak 3 icons pack police.

In November 2002, Simsmetal Limited changed its name to Sims Group Limited. In October 2005, the company merged with entities operating certain of the recycling businesses of Hugo Neu Corporation, a privately owned US corporation. This merger provided Sims with a significant presence in the in southern California, New York and New Jersey.^[10]

In September 2007, Sims sold its Southern California business into a joint venture with Adams Steel. The joint venture, SA Recycling, is operated by Adams Steel and is one of the largest recyclers in the US operating over seventy facilities in seven states.^[11]

On March 14, 2008, Sims issued 53.5 million American depositary receipts (ADRs), with a face value of A$1.5 billion, to purchase the issued capital of Metal Management Inc. (MMI) in the US. MMI was one of the leading full-service scrap metal recyclers in the US, with locations in 17 US states. The acquisition was designed to strengthen Sims' position in the North American scrap recycling market, increase the opportunity to be a supplier of raw materials to US steel mills, and expand its presence in non-ferrous products. The acquisition was complementary, because Sims' operations in North America were primarily export-focused, while MMI’s operations were primarily domestic-focused, and included a large non-ferrous recycling business. The acquisition of MMI in March 2008 created the world's leading publicly traded recycling company. In November 2008, shareholders approved the changes of the corporate name to Sims Metal Management Limited.^[12]

Divisions[edit]

Metals Recycling[edit]

Sims Metal Management buys ferrous metal from metal dealers, peddlers, auto wreckers, demolition firms and others who generate obsolete metal and from manufacturers who generate industrial metal. Ferrous metal is processed for resale using a variety of methods, including sorting, shredding, cutting, torching, baling or breaking. After processing, ferrous recycled metal is sold to end users such as EAF mills, integrated steel mill, foundaires and brokers.^[13]

Sims Recycling Center

Sims sources non-ferrous metals from manufacturers, known as production offcuts, and from generators of electricity, telecommunication service providers and others who generate obsolete metal. Peddlers and metal dealers, who collect from a variety of sources, also deliver material directly to their facilities. In addition, the company generates significant quantities of non-ferrous metal as a byproduct.^[14]

Sims Metal Management operates a geographically diverse network of processing facilities, with numerous deep-water port access,^[15] supported by an extensive network of feeder yards which source recyclable ferrous and non-ferrous metals.^[16] Sims Metal Management today has over 130 physical operations in North America, 57 in Australasia, and more than 37 locations in the United Kingdom and Continental Europe.^[17]

Electronics Recycling[edit]

Sims Recycling Solutions (SRS) is the company's electronics recycling division. This includes product de-manufacturing and processing operations, and commonly is referred to as e-recycling. SRS offers comprehensive and cost-effective recycling services for “end-of-life” and redundant electrical and electronic equipment and materials, ranging from product assessment to recycling. SRS provides services for Original Equipment Manufacturers, Contract Equipment Manufacturers, suppliers, importers, lease and finance companies, sector organizations and end users to enable them to comply with their responsibilities under relevant environmental regulations, including the European Union’s Directive 2002/96/EC on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment, or the WEEE Directive. Additionally, SRS offers business-to-business IT and electronic equipment asset management and recovery service that operates across a global network. The company's services include the management and control of the entire asset management process, including transport, coordination, product identification, asset registration and reporting. SRS offers clients the option of redeployment, reclamation of parts and/or resale and recycling, delivering legal compliance as well as a potential financial return from the resale of refurbished equipment.^[18]

SRS has 42 facilities operating globally offering a range of services including the collection, refurbishment and re-sale of working equipment, parts recovery for resale, mechanized testing and processing of monitors, mechanical recycling of e-recycling and secondary smelting and refining of high grade electronics by-product materials.^[19] Sims recycling facilities in the UK specialize in fragmenting domestic and commercial fridges, as well IT asset management solutions.^[20] SRS locations in Australasia address the growing social and environmental problem represented by end-of-life computers and other information technology equipment with locations in Australia, India, Dubai, and South Africa.^[21][22]

Municipal Recycling[edit]

Sims Metal Management also recycles post-consumer materials through a 20-year recycling contract with the New York City Department of Sanitation, which became effective in January 2009.^[23] Under this contract, the company is responsible for all curb-side recycling material, including all plastic, glass and metal on behalf of the City of New York. Packer trucks owned and operated by New York City deliver recyclables as a 26 commingled product to the company's facilities. The commingled product then is processed using a series of screens, magnets, eddy currents, optical sorters and conveyors. The recyclables are separated and sorted into ferrous and non-ferrous metals, different plastic resins, glass and residue. Then the recycled materials are shipped to US and non-US markets.^[24]

In December 2013, Sims Metal Management opened a state of the art recycling facility at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal on the Upper New York Bay in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. Sims Municipal Recycling (SMR) managed construction of a new 11-acre recycling center on the Brooklyn waterfront from 2010 to 2013. SMR worked with geotechnical engineers to develop structural fill blends using 'mole rock' from NYC tunneling projects mixed with recycled glass aggregate (RGA). More than 5,000 tons of RGA were blended with 20,000 tons of mole rock and used to elevate sections of the site by 4 feet, thereby protecting buildings and equipment against sea level rise and storm surges.^[25]

Environmental Sustainability[edit]

The energy savings generated by Sims Metal Management were in excess of 14.3 million MWh, enough to power around 4.3 million average households.^[26] Saving this energy also prevented the emission of 15.2 million metric tons of CO2 to the atmosphere, equivalent to that absorbed by 15 million trees over a 100-year life span.^[27]

In 2013, Sims Metal Management was nominated as one of the world’s 100 most sustainable companies at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland for the fifth Year in a row.^[28] The company also joined as an Index Component in the World Index of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (DJSI).^[29] Sims has participated in numerous voluntary sustainability disclosures including the Carbon Disclosure Project for the past eight years and the Carbon Disclosure Project's Water Disclosure initiative for the past three years.^[30] The company was also recently added to the Euronext Vigeo World 120 index for exemplary corporate social responsibility.^[31]

Sims is heavily focused on reducing the potential risk of fire at their scrap metal recycling facilities. In light of the stockpiled material fires which occurred in 2013 at the company’s Redwood City, California^[32] and Jersey City, New Jersey^[33] locations, Sims has considered factors such as stockpile size and the use of technology such as heat sensors.

References[edit]

1. ^[1]
2. ^Sims Metal Management About Us
3. ^Sims Metal Management History
4. ^SEC Filings NYSE
5. ^SEC Filings NYSE
6. ^SEC Filings NYSE
7. ^Sims Metal Management History
8. ^Sims Pacific Metals About UsArchived 2014-05-27 at the Wayback Machine
9. ^Sims Metal Management 20F
10. ^American RecyclerArchived 2008-10-11 at the Wayback Machine
11. ^[2]
12. ^Reuters, Metal Management Completes Merger with Sims Group Limited
13. ^Sims Metal Management Scrap Ferrous Metal
14. ^Sims Metal Management Scrap Non-Ferrous Metal
15. ^Sims Metal Management Capabilities
16. ^Sims Metal Management Transportation and Logistics
17. ^Bloomberg Businessweek Company Overview
18. ^Sims Metal Management Electronics Recycling
19. ^Recycling Today E-StewardsArchived 2014-05-23 at the Wayback Machine
20. ^Sims Metal Management Electronics Recycling
21. ^Recycling Today Secondary Commodities Middle EastArchived 2014-05-23 at the Wayback Machine
22. ^Recycling Today Middle East Conference Electronics RecyclingArchived 2014-05-23 at the Wayback Machine
23. ^Waste Management World, Opening for Sims Facility in New York
24. ^Sims Metal Management Sunset Park Facility
25. ^Sims Metal Management Sunset Park Facility
26. ^Sims Metal Management Social Responsibility
27. ^Sims Metal Management Social Responsibility
28. ^Sims Metal Management Sustainability
29. ^Business Wire, Sims Metal Management Added to Dow Jones Sustainability
30. ^Sims Metal Management Sustainability
31. ^2014 Euronext Vigeo World 120 CSR Index
32. ^Fernandez, Lisa; Cain, Chase (17 December 2013). 'Redwood City Recycling Plant Fire at Sims Metal, 2nd in 5 Weeks'. NBC Bay Area. Retrieved 14 November 2016.
33. ^'MASSIVE FIRE BURNS THROUGH JERSEY CITY RECYCLING PLANT'. ABC 7 NY. 20 August 2013. Retrieved 14 November 2016.

External links[edit]

Sims Municipal Recycling

• Official website