Episode 162: Living the 3 Rs (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle)

Meet Amy Uong, deputy general manager of Sims Municipal Recycling (and one of our Waste360 40 Under 40 winners). Sims Recycling provides recycling services in the New York/New Jersey metro region — and in our latest episode of NothingWasted!, we spoke with Uong about the latest challenges in materials recovery and processing, the importance of connecting and sharing knowledge with the entire industry and more.

Here is an inside look into this episode:

Waste360: I know you were involved in the building of Sims’ flagship building in Brooklyn, NY. Could you please talk about that experience?

Uong: It was so exciting. I was the liaison between the city, the construction manager, and our group in terms of the administration, and project documents, We broke ground in December 2010 and were operational in December of 2013. And we installed so many green features. We have a 563 kW solar array, the first commercial scale wind turbine in New York City, and wonderful detention ponds throughout. Of course we also have our education center, which will be opening up soon, in October. We’re really looking forward to that and hope people will want to come and see—or, even virtually.

Waste360: That’s really great and such an important piece of education and making the community more interested in recycling and their part in it.

Uong: Right. Really to see the materials that come in. Visitors walk across a pedestrian bride, and there’s an overlook. They’ll hear the sounds of the trucking tipping material onto the floor; they’ll hear the rumblings from the loader pushing the comingled material into the sort system. And they’ll also see and smell what the recyclables look like.  Then, they go back home, and they start thinking, ‘Do I really need to consume these materials, or how can I do it better?’

Waste360: Can you talk about some of the challenges you’ve seen since the pandemic and with changing waste streams?

Uong: One of the biggest challenges is with Lithium-ion batteries and how flammable they are. And, in New York City, there are a lot of e-bikes and scooters that make their way into recycling bins. These batteries are also in toys these days, and we are seeing them more than ever. This is affecting MRFs all over the country.

Waste360: Can you tell us about Sims’ recent acquisition by Closed Loop Partners?

Uong: We are so excited. They lend their expertise in the circular world, and it’s great that these guiding principles are now a part of our company in new ways. We’re also really happy to continue being part of the Sims family.

Waste360: Any final thoughts you want to share?

Uong: My main message to everyone is simple: let’s reduce consumption, please reuse what you have, and when the object is at the end of its life, find another home for it and when all else fails, recycle it.

Listen to the full podcast episode above.

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