Albert G. Sims

How many companies can celebrate 100 years of business?

Like many of today’s great companies, Sims Metal Management had humble beginnings. Albert Sims moved his family from England to Australia in 1913 with only a few shillings in his pocket. With no money and a family to feed, Albert pawned his wife’s wedding ring and started collecting scrap metals on a bicycle. Albert’s bicycle was eventually upgraded to a horse and cart and in 1917 he officially started his scrap collection business.

By 1929 his company was officially formed as Albert G. Sims Limited and he was able to upgrade his horse and cart to motor vehicles and mechanized operations. What he didn’t know was that this new business was going to fundamentally change the way the world would recycle metals and electronics.

For the next few decades the business continued to expand and Albert’s resourcefulness enabled the company to thrive successfully through the Great Depression. The company eventually went public in the late 1940s and became positioned as the most efficient and profitable ferrous and non-ferrous scrap company. With an international reach and transformed business objectives, the company merged and secured acquisitions in Australia, North America and Europe which brought significant change to the company.

The rise in digital media in the 90s introduced a need for electronics recycling services. In response to this Sims Metal Management launched a new business division, Sims Recycling Solutions (SRS) in the United Kingdom in 2002. The company continued to develop the electronics recycling division with the flexibility to service domestic and export markets. They now offer some of the most technologically advanced and cost-effective, end-of-life solutions for IT and electronic equipment.

Fast forward to 2017. Sims Metal Management, the world’s leading publicly-listed metals and electronics recycler, is celebrating 100 years of optimization and continuous improvement in the recycling industry. Today the same spirit that drove Albert Sims flows strongly through the veins of the company. With such a rich history, can you imagine what the company will accomplish in the next 100 years?

Learn more about Sims Recycling Solutions, a business of Sims Metal Management.