In 2022, Colin White – EHS Specialist at Sims Metal, reached out to Fatima Smith, Principal at Oak- Grove – Bellemeade Elementary School (OGBES), located just a few miles from Sims Metal in Richmond, VA. OGBES is a Title 1 school that serves approximately 675 students in PreK – 5.

“From that very first meeting, we realized Sims and OGBES had so many values in common. Mrs. Smith is an acclaimed educator who has a genuine commitment to helping schools implement educational programs focused on environmental stewardship, sustainability, and recycling. From that first day, specific short- and long-term goals have been set up to consolidate a partnership that directly benefits OGBES students’ education.”

Colin White – EHS Specialist

Sims Metal has offered financial support for the 2022-2023 school year to source school and teacher supplies, software licenses, and laboratory kits and equipment for an after-school program focused on the circular economy, sustainability, and the recycling industry.

Using the school’s grounds in Bellemeade Park, which include a waterway, as a practical learning environment, the kids examine macro and micro life all around them. That gets them thinking on human impacts on the environment – like climate change, litter and pollution – and how humans can solve these problems.

The job of the Sims Metal team is teaching the OGBES students the importance of keeping resources in use for as long as possible, how to recycle correctly and what metal recycling techniques are. The program also includes speeches from our business experts and hands-on demonstrations for the students!

“Sims Metal is onsite at OGBES every two weeks and the kids are loving our lab activities! Our team get so much out of it as well – it’s a fantastic way to be involved in the community and we’re inspired by the enthusiasm and curiosity of the students”.

Colin White – EHS Specialist

If you have a community initiative that you believe Sims Metal could help you deliver, get in touch with us.

The post Sims Metal teaching future generations about sustainability – Our growing partnership with the OGBE school in Richmond, VA appeared first on Sims Metal.

Sims Metal has established a recycling program at the Pantry by providing drums to collect cans and miscellaneous metal items no longer needed at their facilities. Any metal collected in these drums generates a payout directly into the Pantry’s budget.

Sims Metal supports the Pilsen Food Pantry in their new project: the Food Pantry Relocation. This month our employees came together to support the Pilsen Community in moving the Pilsen Food Pantry to a new location that will now accommodate the food pantry and a clothes closet, as well as various wellness programs. The new site requires significant renovations; our employees helped tear down old cabinets and walls to make room for new construction in the kitchen area, and Sims Metal donated $50k to support the whole project.

The Pilsen Food Pantry: A Small Organization, Making a Big Difference

The Pilsen Food Pantry has four employees and is supported by many volunteers, including students, health professionals from the nearby Illinois Medical district, and many community members. The Pantry’s primary purpose is to provide food and resources to those in need within the local Pilsen community.

Founded by the Figueroa Wu Family Foundation in 2018, the Pilsen Food Pantry is an extension of the foundation’s mission to bring anti-poverty services into areas of unmet need. In 2022, the Pantry served nearly 28,000 households in the area from the Lower West Side of Chicago.

Donate to Help Pilsen Pantry Reach $75k

Sims Metal donated $50k to support the Pantry’s new location. If you want to help us raise an additional $25k to match funds from an anonymous donor, please donate by visiting the Pilsen Food Pantry Website. 

Donations play a huge part in fulfilling these services, and something as small as an $8 donation supports a visit that distributes over 60 pounds of food for a family. All contributions toward the food pantry go directly into day-to-day operational costs.

Sims Metal is delighted to support and engage with the Pilsen neighborhood. Listening to and engaging with our people helps us make informed decisions and, in turn, forge a lasting positive impact. We are committed to building a stronger and more resilient future for the communities such as Pilsen, where we live and work.

The post Sims Metal in support of the Pilsen Food Pantry relocation project appeared first on Sims Metal.

Nearly 6 million traffic-related incidents occur annually in the United States. October marked a stark milestone, recording from January to June the largest six-month increase ever in fatalities at 20,160, up 18.4 % over 2020, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

First responders work hard every day to keep this number as low as possible. Thanks to their rapid intervention, for every life lost many are saved.

In order to keep response and recovery times swift and save as many lives as possible, emergency responders are put through extensive training. Firefighters, for example, train to extinguish hazardous fires threatening lives, property and the environment, as well as rescue people and animals from dangerous situations.

In the communities we serve, Sims Metal plays a valuable role in training local Fire Departments by making this critical exercise hands-on at many locations across North America.

All of our metal recycling centers are ideal locations to facilitate this life-saving training due to the vast size of each site. In addition, the sites have scrap cars that have been de-polluted of all hazardous and flammable materials, making it a safe place to stage training exercises.

A Closer Look

Sims Metal recently hosted fire fighters at several yards in California, New Jersey and Illinois. Each facility opens the yard to the local fire departments as often as needed. In California, the visits occur twice monthly whereas in Jersey City, at our Claremont Terminal facility, we open the yard every Sunday.

The on-site team prepares the scrap cars by first de-polluting them, which includes the removal of all fluids, gas, oil and batteries. Sam Flores, a Shredder Manager in Chicago, IL said, “The fire department prefers vehicles with tires intact and often requests to have the cars crushed to mimic an over-turned vehicle.”

In Chicago, the visits occur monthly, so Sam and the operations team often prepare the cars as they come in by identifying those that may be most beneficial for the training to be set aside for their next visit.

At our joint venture Richmond Steel Recycling (RSR) in Kamloops, British Columbia, the team recently hosted Kamloops Fire and Rescue. This particular day was a bit different than most because the firefighters were able to train using a new tool: a combi. The combi is a battery powered 2-in-1 rescue tool; a spreader and cutter in one. Previously, the Kamloops Fire and Rescue team practiced using a hydraulic jaw blade, typically referred to as the ‘Jaws of Life.’ On a hydraulic jaw blade, the blades are curved and keep the targeted cut centered in the blade whereas the new combi has a straight blade and a secondary use as a spreader.

Shaun Barrett, a volunteer fire fighter with Kamloops Fire and Rescue and Yard Manager of the Kamloops RSR Facility, recently witnessed the combi tool in action while on a call to a motor vehicle incident with two individuals trapped inside with wheels facing up. He said, “I learned from the Incident Captain the most effective way to use the combi tool for cutting a frame section is to squish a wider section flat prior to making the cut. Otherwise the tool would want to pop back like trying to cut a pen with scissors. Learning this in the field may have taken away precious time which is critical and necessary in an extraction. The time could save blood, a limb or more.”

The practice Fire Fighters gain by using the cars we purchase is vital. We are very proud of our local Fire Departments and honored to play a valuable role in their life-saving training.

Check out some of the Fire Departments we’ve partnered with as they practice rescuing a dummy passenger from a crushed car using the combi tool and much more.

Resources: Learn more about fire prevention at the U.S. Fire Administration.

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