Site Visit: Sims Recycling Solutions – Roseville Facility

by RLM Staff Contributor

Reverse Logistics Magazine, May/June 2007

Mr. Gailen Vick, President and CEO of the Reverse Logistics Associationtm, recently paid a visit to one of the Sims Recycling Solutions plants located in Roseville, California. The electronic scrap recycling facility is located near Sacramento and was opened (as Noranda Recycling Inc.) in 1996 to meet the challenge of recycling obsolete electronics which are a growing concern as technology drives consumers to replace their computers, printers, televisions, and electronic products more rapidly. In the mid-nineties, the facility was one of the first in North America providing this type of service to large OEMs and organizations. The facility is ISO 14001 certified, as well as an approved collector and recycler in the California monitor recycling program, SB-50. The plant’s 100 employees serve the local community with a free monthly consumer electronics drop off day.

Joining Mr. Vick on the tour was Plant Manager, Director of Engineering Rafael Reveles and Operations Manager Scott Sodenkamp. The tour of the 200,000 square foot facility began in receiving where material is received onto a custom database that uses barcodes to track material throughout the process. The group then walked through the disassembly area where hazardous materials such as ink, toner, batteries, and mercury bulbs are removed at special work stations. Adjacent to this process was a hydraulic bin dumper and sorting conveyor. Employees rapidly sort through material that arrives in large Gaylord boxes; the boxes are then re-used to ship out commodities. Next, there was a dedicated area where devices that still have market value are tested for re-sale and packaged. All the employees in that area were observing ESD (electro-static discharge) precautions with special smocks and grounding mats to protect the inventory from damage. Data erasure to DOD (Department of Defense) specs occurs during this process to ensure the security of the customer’s data.

The tour group then walked to the other half of the building where the massive recycling equipment is located. Several large hydraulic shredders and a 500HP granulator shred the electronic scrap into 1-inch nominal pieces that allows clean steel and aluminum to be separated with magnets and eddy currents. The copper and precious metal streams produced are sent to a North American smelter for refining. The area was very clean and had industrial hygiene controls such as a 30 foot tall dust collector and Hepa filter system to handle dusts produced from shredding.

In concluding the tour, the group was informed of security measures taken to ensure the protection of the customer’s material. A tall perimeter fence completely enclosed the building, along with 24/7 manned security personnel. Mounted cameras and sensor enhanced windows provide another level of protection.

Sims Recycling Solutions, an Australian publicly held company, now operates six facilities in North America in addition to those in Europe, and can offer its customers a global solution for their asset recovery and recycling needs. The company’s core values embrace continuous improvement, and routinely use Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma tools to optimize the process and maximize customer returns. The company plans to grow the business and apply new technologies for material recovery.

Reverse Logistics Magazine, May/June 2007