Dumfries recycling facility reduces energy consumption

An integral part of the reduction in energy use was the installation in 2007 of a software package which allows for pre-programmed or individual zone control of the gas heating on site.

The company also ran a campaign to encourage staff to turn off lights and computer equipment when not in use and began a programme of replacing old strip lights with more energy efficient versions.

Sims Recycling Solutions’ Facilities and Waste Manager Tom Weems said: “We are very proud of this achievement and a big thank you goes to our staff for all their help in reducing our energy consumption by over half.  Energy and carbon reductions are not just about environmental best practice, but also make good financial sense in a world of finite resources and the current world economic climate.”

Sims Recycling Solutions is not an energy intensive company and provides many environmental and energy saving benefits through its recycling activities.

Last year, the Dumfries facility recycled more than 5,600 tonnes of WEEE, including 240,000 items of IT and computer equipment. Over two thirds of the items were refurbished for reuse and the remaining third were recycled for materials recovery. This equates to a further 2,385 tonnes of CO₂ emissions saved.*

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^{*For each tonne of computer equipment which is recycled, it is estimated that between three and 5 tonnes of CO₂ is saved from being emitted into the atmosphere. This is due to recovered materials being re-used in the manufacture of new products rather than using additional energy to source and process virgin materials.}