Sims Metal Statement Regarding Favona Facility Fire

AUCKLAND, New Zealand--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sims Metal, a global leader in metal recycling, today issued the following statement regarding the fire at its Favona facility in Auckland, New Zealand.

“At approximately 12.00 am on Wednesday, 31 May, we experienced a fire in a pile of post-consumer material that was waiting to be processed at our facility in Favona. Fire and Emergency New Zealand (FENZ) was contacted and responded quickly to our location. Our team are working alongside FENZ to reduce the size of the pile and expose the material, enabling FENZ to successfully extinguish the fire.”

“While FENZ and our local team are making progress in this regard, due to the size of the pile we expect that it will take some time to fully extinguish the fire. Our practice is to never speculate on the cause of a fire, but we will conduct a review of the incident and take appropriate action to mitigate the possibility of a recurrence, including further review and assessment of inbound material to identify potentially harmful components.”

“The health and welfare of our community, neighbors and employees is of paramount importance to us, and we are deeply sorry for the inconvenience that this incident has caused,” said David Burrows, Chief Operating Officer, APAC at Sims Metal.

About Sims Metal

Founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1917, Sims Metal, has grown from being an Australian-centric company to one of the most significant metal recycling companies in the world. A division of Sims Limited, Sims Metal has bases of operation in Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States where we buy, and process discarded ferrous and non-ferrous metal and sell the recycled material to manufacturers in 30 countries. Each year, we recycle approximately 10 million tonnes of metal across our global operations. In line with our shared purpose, create a world without waste to preserve our planet, Sims Metal is preparing for, and adapting to, the significant industrial and environmental changes in society and the industry. Visit www.simsmm.com to learn more.

To learn more about Sims Metal’s operation in New Zealand, visit www.simsmetal.co.nz.