The Sunset Park Material Recovery Facility is a processing center for New York City’s curbside metal, glass, and plastic recyclables which is being undertaken by Sims Municipal Recycling and the City of New York. Located on an 11 acre waterfront pier in Sunset Park, the design was influenced by its programmatic use as a recycling center which inspired reuse throughout.

 The masterplan organizes buildings to support functionality, creates distinct circulation systems to safely separate visitors from operations, and adds two acres of native plantings. Buildings are also organized to create the site’s own urban context. The 140,000 sf facility includes a Tipping Building, where recyclables arrive by barge and truck; Processing Building that houses more than $25,000,000 in complex sorting equipment, as well as electrical compressor, fire pump, and supervisor rooms; Bale Storage Building served by eight loading docks; and a building for personnel (lunch room, locker rooms, offices) and an Education Center.

 The Education Center is one of the project’s most unique features. The structure contains programs for school children and the public including classrooms, exhibitions, and interactive demonstration displays. A key element of the design is a steel bridge which connects the Education Center to a viewing platform inside the Processing Facility. The viewing platform allows students and visitors to see the recycling process in action. 

 Working within a pre-engineered building, one of the design challenges was to find ways to articulate the program and give an overall expression to the facility that would distinguish it from ordinary big box construction. In response, structural elements are inverted to appear on the exterior, giving steel girders and lateral bracing a greater visual impact.

 The facility makes a major environmental contribution by delivering recyclables by barge—a strategy which minimizes the distance collection trucks must travel and eliminates 240,000 miles of annual vehicle travel from roadways. Recycled materials are used throughout: site fill is made from a composite of recycled glass, asphalt, and rock reclaimed from the Second Avenue subway construction; buildings are made from recycled steel; and plazas are finished with recycled glass. Other sustainable measures include one of the largest applications of photovoltaics in New York City and a forthcoming wind turbine which together will generate approximately 10% of the facility’s power, and bioswales for stormwater management.