Recycling

What is recycling?

Recycling is the processing of used materials which are no longer suitable for their original purpose. The end products of the recycling process are remanufactured into new products, reducing waste and keeping valuable materials out of landfill.

Why do we recycle?

Recycling is one of the most significant things we can do to help our environment. Metals and many other materials can be recycled and used again indefinitely, meaning we protect and preserve some of nature's finite resources.

Using recycled products instead of virgin materials during manufacturing dramatically reduces pollution and carbon emissions, reduces energy and water consumption, and frees up much-needed space for necessary landfill.

What are the benefits of recycling?

Recycling provides a solution to many of the problems facing the world today, including diminishing resources, increased energy and water use, dangerous levels of carbon emissions and ever-growing levels of waste generation.

The threat of global warming highlights just how important the benefits of recycling can be for the entire planet. With global warming directly linked to the amount of carbon in the atmosphere, it is important we act immediately to reduce these emissions. The following examples give you some insight into how effective recycling can be in achieving these reductions:

• By using a tonne of recycled steel rather than primary iron ore, carbon emissions are reduced by 2.1 tonnes.
• When one tonne of aluminium is recycled, carbon emissions are reduced by a staggering 7.9 tonnes.
• For every tonne of computers recycled, carbon emissions reduced by approximately four tonnes.

In 2009 alone, recycling undertaken by Sims Metal Management reduced global carbon emissions by over 13.6 million tonnes!

What will happen if we don't recycle?

Apart from the devastating impacts associated with increased carbon emissions, without recycling, there is a very real danger that important commodities will be lost forever.

Rare metals such as platinum, indium and tantalum are estimated to run out in the next five to 20 years. Even common metals such as zinc, copper, nickel and phosphorous may run out in the not too distant future.

As the world's oil supplies decline, plastics may become too expensive to manufacture, and without recycling, may not be able to be used in common applications.

Supply shortages of metals and other materials have the potential to affect the standard of living to which we have become accustomed.

If we do not recycle, the levels of waste generated will become unmanageable and we will run out of space for landfill. The metal recycled by Sims Metal Management last year alone would cover a soccer field to the vertical height of one mile. This means more than 12 million cubic metres of much-needed space was freed up for landfill.

What does Sims Metal Management recycle?

We recycle all common metal-based products, such as cars, aluminium cans, steel beams and fridges. We also recycle electronics and IT equipment containing both metals and plastics, including computers, televisions, mobile phones, iPods and gaming consoles. We can even recycle submarines and aeroplanes.

What is Sims Metal Management's contribution as the world's leading recycler?

Sims Metal Management recycled 12.6 million tonnes of steel, aluminium, copper, lead, plastics and e-waste a year globally in fiscal 2009. The steel recycled by us alone reduced global carbon emissions by over 13.6 million tonnes in 2009.

In the past year, we have recycled more than 1 million cars, which, if laid out end-to-end, would stretch from Rome to Bangkok. The appliances and fridges we recycled would stretch from Sydney to Amsterdam and across to New York.

Add to that the bicycles, vending machines, mobile phones, aluminium cans and any other materials we throw out every day, and it is easy to understand the contribution Sims Metal Management is making to the sustainability of our planet.

What is Sims Metal Management's commitment to recycling?

At Sims Metal Management, we intend to "keep doing well by doing good". We started as a small recycling company in Sydney in 1917, and, over the past 91 years, we have grown to become the world's largest recycling company. We are committed to investing in new technologies and market development. We are good at what we do and intend to keep doing it for a very long time to come.