Sims Recycling Solutions Reaches Settlement with DTSC Regarding Former Roseville Operation

WEST CHICAGO, Ill., Dec. 7, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Sims Recycling Solutions (SRS), a leading provider of global IT asset disposition (ITAD) services, and the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) reached an agreement to resolve issues resulting from Summary of Violations (SOVs) issued following August 2011 and March 2015 site inspections at the SRS Facility in Roseville, California. The settlement relates to large-scale indoor electronics shredding operations that were previously conducted at the Facility. The settlement, made out of a desire to avoid costly, protracted litigation, consists of a $275K civil penalty and a payment of $125K to reimburse DTSC for its costs incurred in this matter. Long before the settlement was reached, Roseville had promptly addressed any issues identified by DTSC and as of last year no longer operates the Roseville shredder.

As is typical of all DTSC court-approved settlements, DTSC filed a complaint after settlement was agreed-to, as a means of lodging the settlement Stipulation with the court. The Stipulation settles all the claims made by DTSC in that complaint. While Sims agreed to settle this matter through the Stipulation, it did not admit to any of the allegations or claims made in the complaint or Stipulation. Most of those claims related to dust, either "baghouse dust" collected from the shredding process or fugitive dust that was present in the air around the shredder. Based on prior DTSC concurrence going back to 2007, Roseville believed it was entitled to manage the baghouse dust as an "excluded recyclable material" based on the valuable recoverable metals that are contained in the dust. According to DTSC, it subsequently changed its interpretation of the recycling provisions and withdrew the earlier approval, but it did so without advising Roseville. DTSC also asserted that the use of an atomized water misting system to control temperature and remove residual dust from the air around the shredder violated a prohibition against the addition of water to the "treatment" (shredding) process.

"All issues have long since been resolved," says Steve Skurnac, President of SRS, "and SRS has since moved on from that Roseville shredder-based business."

About Sims Recycling Solutions:

Sims Recycling Solutions (www.SimsRecycling.com) is a global leader in electronics reuse and recycling. We have over 20 years' experience in comprehensive IT asset disposition and mobile device refurbishment services either directly or through acquired businesses. Sims provides disposition services for all types of retired electronic equipment to local, national and global customers in every business sector including data centers, healthcare, financial service and technical organizations.

As a part of Sims Metal Management Limited, the world's leading publicly listed metal and electronics recycler, Sims Recycling Solutions has the global reach, expertise, and infrastructure necessary to ensure to our customers that all electronic devices are processed in a secure and environmentally responsible manner.

Sims international footprint of operations enables us to offer a global scope of services on a myriad of local fronts.

SOURCE Sims Recycling Solutions