A Sims Municipal Recycling Facility will be opening soon at the South Brooklyn Marine Terminal in Sunset Park. This facility will be NYC’s first large, state-of-the-art plant for processing recyclable glass, plastic, and metals. And unlike most constructions of this nature, this plant has some design chops.

Instead of allowing engineers to design the building, as is usually the case, Sims contracted out the project to NYC-based architectural firm Selldorf Architects. The group is known for building Chelsea art galleries. The facility is sleek, modern, well-proportioned, and elegant. Constructed using recycled steel on the edge of the water, the building glimmers in the sunlight. The facility is also partially solar powered and boasts the largest solar array in the city.

“Recycling is a high-minded although notoriously low-margin, capital-intensive, volume-based industry, dependent on increasing public participation” reportsThe New York Times' Michael Kimmelman. In order to encourage people to recycle, the facility will be friendly with its neighbors, and not hard on the eyes.

The opening will create jobs in the area, as well as reduce the amount of trash the city must pay to have exported.

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Municipal Recycling Programs

[via: the New York Times]

Sims Municipal Recycling Facility Pensacola Florida

The Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility is a processing center for New York City’s curbside metal, glass, and plastic recyclables undertaken by Sims Municipal Recycling and the City of New York. SMR is dedicated to educating the public about the benefits of recycling. We offer free tours of our Sunset Park recycling facility in Brooklyn for school groups, adult groups and colleges. Designed with public education in mind, including safe access for visitors to view and learn about the recycling process.