Sims supplants Radius atop corporate sustainability list

Sims Ltd., a global provider of metal and electronics recycling services, has been ranked as 2024’s most sustainable corporation on the Corporate Knights Global 100 index.

A year ago, Portland, Oregon-based Schnitzer Steel Industries Inc., now operating as Radius Recycling, was ranked No. 1 on the previous iteration of the list.

At that time, Corporate Knights, a Toronto-based business information and research organization, said Schnitzer had ranked first after an assessment of 6,720 companies, each with more than $1 billion in revenue, based on company performance across a range of sustainability metrics.

On the 2024 Corporate Knights list, other recycling-related companies besides Sims and Radius (now ranked No. 36), include: Finland-based Neste Oyj, which has made significant investments in the chemical recycling of plastics; and Canada-based Cascades Inc., which makes recycled-content paper products.

The 2024 list marks Sims' 10th and highest ranked inclusion on the list.

“We are very proud to have topped the ranking on the 2024 Global 100,” says Stephen Mikkelsen, CEO and managing director of Sims, which has global headquarters in Australia but a sizable operations footprint in both the United States and the United Kingdom.

“This recognition reflects our commitment to our own sustainability performance, as well as our role in helping build a greener future through the supply of more circular metals and materials globally. Supplying products safely and sustainably that help our customers to decarbonize and be more circular is how we advance our purpose-led strategy.”

Sims says the role it plays to support global decarbonization is reflected in its recycling of approximately 8 million metric tons of ferrous and nonferrous metal during its 2023 fiscal year. Its efforts, according to Sims, helped its customers avoid about 11.6 million metric tons of CO₂-equivalent emissions by using recycled instead of mined raw materials.

Among its internal sustainability targets the company met in fiscal year 2023 were achieving 100 percent renewable electricity use across its North America operated businesses.

Globally, Sims Ltd. employs more than 4,000 people and operating more than 280 facilities in 14 countries.