Sims Metal Management
On this Page:
- Summary
- April 13, 2023 Update
- March 27, 2023 Update
- February 14, 2023 Update
- January 30, 2023 Update
- December 21, 2022 Update
- November 21, 2022 Update
- November 4, 2022 Update
On April 21, 2022, EPA issued a Clean Air Act 114(a) information request to Metal Management Midwest Inc. (doing business as Sims). The information request required the company to install and operate air pollution monitors at its metal shredding and recycling facility at 2500 S. Paulina Street, Chicago, Illinois. The air pollution monitoring will help EPA assess the company’s compliance with the Clean Air Act. The facility is located in an area of Chicago with environmental justice concerns, and EPA has an agency-wide commitment to advance environmental justice and deliver benefits to underserved and overburdened communities.
The pollution monitors will:
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Continuously monitor real-time Particulate Matter with a diameter of 10 microns or less (PM10)
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Sample for metal Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAP)
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Sample for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
The air pollution monitoring will help EPA assess the company’s compliance with the Clean Air Act. The facility is located in an area of Chicago with environmental justice concerns, and EPA has an agency-wide commitment to advance environmental justice and deliver benefits to underserved and overburdened communities.
EPA reviewed and approved the company’s monitoring and quality assurance plans and the monitors began operating on September 23. EPA inspected Sims on October 4, 2022 to address a citizen compliant and check on the air monitors. EPA asked Sims to elevate the east monitor (AQ2) PM inlet to comply with the PM Dust Monitoring Plan and to avoid any impacts from the adjacent building. The inspection report is available below.
April 13, 2023 Update:
On March 30, 2023, EPA received Sims’ monitoring and sampling data for February.
The available, quality-assured monitoring data shows no pollutant concentrations that would cause human health effects from short-term exposure to the air in the area around the facility. More data is needed to evaluate long-term risks. As Sims submits additional data, EPA will continue to evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
February Data Summary
VOCs: Concentrations are below levels that would cause human health effects from short-term exposure to the air in the area around the facility. EPA needs more data to evaluate long-term risks. As Sims submits additional VOC data, EPA will continue to evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
PM10: All 24-hour average PM10 concentrations are below EPA’s health-based PM10 standard of 150 µg/m3 over a 24-hour period. EPA did observe two hourly PM10 concentrations at one monitoring location that were above 150 µg/m3. These were measured on February 4 during the Sims scrap pile fire, and describe in the February update, below. As Sims submits additional PM10 data, EPA will continue to compare the reported levels with the health-based standard.
Lead and other metals: Concentrations of lead, manganese and chromium were detected below levels that would cause short- or long-term health impacts. As Sims submits additional data on metal hazardous air pollutants, EPA will evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
February Continuous Coarse Particulate Matter (PM10) and Met Data (xlsx) February Volatile Organic Compound and Metals Data (xlsx)
March 27, 2023 Update:
On March 1, 2023, EPA received Sims’ monitoring and sampling data for January.
The available, quality-assured monitoring data shows no pollutant concentrations that would cause human health effects from short-term exposure to the air in the area around the facility. More data is needed to evaluate long-term risks. As Sims submits additional data, EPA will continue to evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
January Data Summary
VOCs: Concentrations are below levels that would cause human health effects from short-term exposure to the air in the area around the facility. EPA needs more data to evaluate long-term risks. As Sims submits additional VOC data, EPA will continue to evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
PM10: All 24-hour average PM10 concentrations are below EPA’s health-based PM10 standard of 150 µg/m3 over a 24-hour period. EPA did observe a limited number of hourly values that were above 150 µg/m3. Though still below the health-based standard, EPA is analyzing the cause of these higher values. As Sims submits additional PM10 data, EPA will continue to compare the reported levels with the health-based standard.
Lead and other metals: Concentrations of lead, manganese and nickel were detected below levels that would cause short- or long-term health impacts. As Sims submits additional data on metal hazardous air pollutants, EPA will evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
January Continuous Coarse Particulate Matter (PM10) and Met Data (xlsx)
January Volatile Organic Compound and Metals Data (xlsx)
February 13, 2023 Update:
On January 28, 2023, EPA received Sims’ monitoring and sampling data for December. Additionally, on February 7, 2023, EPA received hourly PM10 data for February 4, 5 and 6 to evaluate potential air quality impacts from a scrap pile fire at the facility on Saturday, February 4.
The available, quality-assured monitoring data shows no pollutant concentrations that would cause human health effects from short-term exposure to the air in the area around the facility. More data is needed to evaluate long-term risks. As Sims submits additional data, EPA will continue to evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
Update on Sims’ February 4, 2023 fire: On February 6, 2023, U.S. EPA contacted Sims about air emissions from the scrap pile fire that occurred at about 4:00pm on Saturday, February 4. Although Sims is not required to provide U.S. EPA with February air monitoring data until March 30, Sims provided all available air monitoring data for February 4, 5, and 6, 2023. PM10 concentrations at the north monitor were elevated for a two-hour period that coincided with the fire, but the 24-hour PM10 average remained below EPA’s health-based standard. All other PM10 monitors were not elevated, which corresponds to the wind direction during the fire.
Samples of VOCs, lead and other metals are collected every third day on a set schedule. The fire occurred on a day when these samples were not collected, so data for these pollutants during the fire will not be available.
A U.S. EPA inspector visited Sims on February 6, and confirmed that the fire has been extinguished. The inspector also checked for any fire-related odors or smoke and did not observe any.
December Data Summary
VOCs: Concentrations are below levels that would cause human health effects from short-term exposure to the air in the area around the facility. EPA needs more data to evaluate long-term risks. As Sims submits additional VOC data, EPA will continue to evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
PM10: All 24-hour average PM10 concentrations are below EPA’s health-based PM10 standard of 150 µg/m3 over a 24-hour period. EPA did observe a limited number of hourly values that were above 150 µg/m3. Though still below the health-based standard, EPA is analyzing the cause of these higher values. As Sims submits additional PM10 data, EPA will continue to compare the reported levels with the health-based standard.
Lead and other metals: Air samples did not have lead concentrations high enough to be detected. “Not detected” should not be interpreted as meaning that the pollutant is not present. Rather, the pollutant could be present, just not at levels that the monitors could detect. “I’” indicates an issue with the sample collection or analysis that prevents results from results from being interpreted.
Since 24-hour lead concentrations were below the detection level of 0.035 µg/m3, they are also well below EPA’s health-based standard 0.15 µg/m3 over a three-month average. The other metals concentrations were also below detection limits. As Sims submits additional data on metal hazardous air pollutants, EPA will evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
December Continuous Coarse Particulate Matter (PM10) and Met Data (xlsx)
December Volatile Organic Compound and Metals Data (xlsx)
Clean Air Act Inspection Report (pdf)
February Fire data (xlsx)
January 30, 2023 Update:
On December 31, 2022, EPA received Sims’ monitoring and sampling data for November. Additionally, on January 6, 2023, EPA received Sims’ hourly December PM10 data, as well as VOC and metal HAP data for part of December.
The available, quality-assured monitoring data shows no pollutant concentrations that would cause human health effects from short-term exposure to the air in the area around the facility. More data is needed to evaluate long-term risks. As Sims submits additional data, EPA will continue to evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
VOCs: Concentrations are below levels that would cause human health effects from short-term exposure to the air in the area around the facility. EPA needs more data to evaluate long-term risks. As Sims submits additional VOC data, EPA will continue to evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
PM10: All 24-hour average PM10 concentrations are below EPA’s health-based PM10 standard of 150 µg/m3 over a 24-hour period. EPA did observe a limited number of hourly values that were above 150 µg/m3. Though still below the health-based standard, EPA is analyzing the cause of these higher values. As Sims submits additional PM10 data, EPA will continue to compare the reported levels with the health-based standard.
Lead and other metals: Air samples did not have lead concentrations high enough to be detected. “Not detected” should not be interpreted as meaning that the pollutant is not present. Rather, the pollutant could be present, just not at levels that the monitors could detect.
Since 24-hour lead concentrations were below the detection level of 0.035 µg/m3, they are also well below EPA’s health-based standard 0.15 µg/m3 over a three-month average. The other metals concentrations were also below detection limits. As Sims submits additional data on metal hazardous air pollutants, EPA will evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
Data collection: EPA previously noted some instances when the monitoring equipment was not operating properly and provided this information to Sims so that they could address. Sims addressed these issues in November and EPA’s review of this latest data confirms that these issues continue to be addressed and equipment downtime has been minimized.
File November Continuous Coarse Particulate Matter (PM10) and Met Data (csv)
December Continuous Coarse Particulate Matter (PM10) and Met Data (xlsx)
November and Partial December Volatile Organic Compound and Metals Data (xlsx)
December 21, 2022 Update:
On November 30, EPA received Sims’ monitoring and sampling data for October. Additionally, on December 9, EPA received Sims’ hourly November PM10 data, as well as VOC and metal HAP data for the first half of November.
EPA previously noted some instances when the monitoring equipment was not operating properly and provided this information to Sims so that they could address. EPA’s review of this latest data confirms that these issues were addressed in November.
The available, quality-assured monitoring data from October and November shows no pollutant concentrations that would cause human health effects from short-term exposure to the air in the area around the facility. More data is needed to evaluate long-term risks. As Sims submits additional data, EPA will continue to evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
VOCs: Concentrations are below levels that would cause human health effects from short-term exposure to the air in the area around the facility. EPA needs more data to evaluate long-term risks. As Sims submits additional VOC data, EPA will continue to evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
PM10: All 24-hour average PM10 concentrations are below EPA’s health-based PM10 standard of 150 µg/m3 over a 24-hour period. EPA did observe a limited number of hourly values that were above 150 µg/m3. Though still below the health-based standard, EPA is analyzing the cause of these higher values. As Sims submits additional PM10 data, EPA will continue to compare the reported levels with the health-based standard.
Lead and other metals: Air samples did not have lead concentrations high enough to be detected. Since lead concentrations were below the detection level, they are also well below EPA’s health-based standard. The other metals concentrations were also below detection limits. As Sims submits additional data on metal hazardous air pollutants, EPA will evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
EPA has posted the data submitted by Sims.
- November through 11/16/22 Volatile Organic Compound and Metals Results (xlsx)
- November Continuous Coarse Particulate Matter (PM10) and Met Data (xlsx)
- October Volatile Organic Compound and Metals Results (xlsx)
- October Continuous Coarse Particulate Matter (PM10) and Met Data (xlsx)
November 21, 2022 Update:
On October 31st, EPA received Sims’ monitoring and sampling data for September 23 - 30, 2022. Below is EPA’s review of the data. Separately, EPA has noted some instances where the monitoring equipment was not operating properly, and we have provided this information to Sims so that they can address the problems.
The available, quality-assured monitoring data from September shows no pollutant concentrations that would cause human health effects from short-term exposure to the air in the area around the facility. More data is needed to evaluate long-term risks. As Sims submits additional data, EPA will continue to evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
Health Impacts and Results: The primary pollutants of concern from metal shredders are volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, and particulate matter, or PM, which can contribute to respiratory illness. PM emissions can also include hazardous metals – particularly lead. EPA’s Clean Air Act 114(a) information request required Sims to monitor these air pollutants before installing its new pollution-control equipment. This control equipment will help achieve significant reductions in VOC and PM emissions.
VOCs: EPA reviewed the September VOC data and concluded that the concentrations are below levels that would cause human health effects from short-term exposure to the air in the area around the facility. EPA needs more data to evaluate long-term risks. As Sims submits additional VOC data, EPA will continue to evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
PM10: EPA concluded that the September 24-hour average PM10 concentrations are all well below EPA’s health-based PM10 standard of 150 µg/m3 over a 24-hour period. The 1-hour concentrations were also all below this level. As Sims submits additional PM10 data, EPA will continue to compare the reported levels with the health-based standard.
Lead and other metals: September’s air samples did not have lead concentrations high enough to be detected. Since lead concentrations were below the detection level, they are also well below EPA’s health-based standard. The other metals concentrations were also below detection limits. As Sims submits additional data on metal hazardous air pollutants EPA will evaluate both short- and long-term risks.
November 4, 2022 Update:
On October 31st, EPA received Sims’ monitoring and sampling data for September 23 - 30, 2022. Consistent with the terms of EPA’s April 2022 request for air data, Sims provided VOC and metal HAP sample results for three days from three locations and continuous PM10 monitoring data from five locations.
EPA has reviewed the September VOC data and concluded that there are no public health effects from short-term exposure to the air in the area around the facility. Not enough data is available at this time to evaluate longer-term risks. As Sims submits additional VOC data, EPA will continue to evaluate both short- and longer-term risks.
After reviewing the September metal HAP and PM10 data, EPA has concerns that the monitoring equipment did not work as designed. Specifically, EPA is concerned that the monitoring equipment may have pulled in either too much or too little air, potentially invalidating the results. Air flow rate is important for accurate monitoring results because it is used to calculate the final concentrations of pollutants. EPA has not received October data and does not yet know if the October data will present similar concerns. The October data is due to EPA by November 30.
EPA will continue to evaluate the September metal HAP and PM10 data to determine if it can be used. EPA is also working to ensure that future data will meet quality standards. EPA is in discussions with Sims and its third-party monitoring contractor to address these issues and is arranging an on-site technical assistance visit.
EPA has posted the data submitted by Sims, including the potentially invalid data, at the link below.
- Inspection Report (pdf)
- Volatile Organic Compound and Metal Hazardous Air Pollutant Sample Results (csv)
- Continuous Coarse Particulate Matter (PM10) Monitoring and Sampling Data (csv)
- Pm10, Volatile Organic Compound, And Meteorological Parameter Monitoring Plan for Sims (pdf)
- Quality Management Plan / Quality Assurance Project Plan For Continuous And Filter Based Particulate (Pm10), Volatile Organic Compound, And Meteorological Parameters At Sims Metal Recycling Facility-QAPP SIMS (pdf)
- Clean Air Act 114(a) information request to Metal Management Midwest, Inc. (pdf)