Dive Brief:

• The new Sims Municipal Recycling Facility in Brooklyn, New York is breaking conventional thinking about the recycling business -- just in the design of the building alone.
• Sims hired architectural firm Selldorf Architects, known for its work for galleries, to design the facility in an effort to increase public participation in recycling and to get the public on its side to accept the plant into the area.
• ​A total of $110 million was invested in the facility, with Sims bringing $50 million to the table and New York City taxpayers supplying $60 million.

Dive Insight:

Planning the new facility started ten years ago when the Sanitation Department needed a recycling partner, which was awarded to Sims, who will also process all of the city's recyclables. The plant will process around 20,000 tons of recyclables monthly. The waterfront location will eliminate approximately 250,000 miles of collection routes for sanitation vehicles, which will now transport recycling to the facility via barges.