The city of Tucson, Ariz. works hard to promote a healthy community by providing innovative and effective solutions for residents and businesses to responsibly dispose of waste. In addition to disposal options for the community, environmental education has even become integrated into Tucson’s middle school curriculum. Small steps that have developed over the years led to increases in recycling rates beginning in 1960 when it was six percent, to last recorded rates from 2008 which showed they were at 33 percent.
While the importance of recycling is obvious, it can’t be completed without facilities collecting and processing these materials. Recently the Tucson Business Journal published a list of local recycling firms in the area. This list included nine separate recycling centers and was ranked based on the number of full-time staff employed locally. Sims Recycling Solutions was proud to be ranked as the number one recycler on this list, demonstrating acknowledgement of them being the local leader and providing almost 100 employees with green jobs.
“As the worldwide industry leader, this acknowledgement is valued because it helps distinguish the company as a local leader as well,” stated Bill Vasquez, vice president of operations for Sims Recycling Solutions. “Local businesses in need of recycling can have the assurance that their local recycler will uphold global and local standards for environmentally responsible recycling and secure disposal of their IT assets.” Tucson’s state-of-the-art machinery and technologies allow for its highly trained recycling experts to work as specialists in recovering the maximum amount of asset value from the materials recovered. Sims demonstrates its commitment to safety of all employees by maintaining strict internal safety standards that have been implemented at all Sims sites across the globe.
“A lot of hard work goes into maintaining a facility capable of processing 12 million pounds per year with over 75 employees,” stated Bill Bascetta, plant manager for Sims Recycling Solutions’ Tucson facility. “With the recent addition of our e-Stewards certification along with several other environmental, health and safety standards, we need these employees so we can continue to operate and grow along with the rising service demand for the recycling of e-waste. It certainly is an exciting industry to be in.”
Sims Recycling Solutions’ Tucson shredding plant includes custom designed conveyers, permanent magnetic separators and rare earth eddy current magnetic separators. The facility maintains various environmental, health and safety certifications which include e-Stewards, Responsible Recycling (R2), ISO 9001 and 14001, OHSAS 18001 and the Transported Asset Protection Association (TAPA).