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Residents living near a large scrap metal operation in Pilsen are asking Gov. JB Pritzker\u2019s administration to tap the brakes on giving the business a new operating permit this year because of fear that it releases too many toxic metals into the air.<\/p>\n
Sims Metal,<\/a> which recycles material from junked cars, large appliances and other objects, has been in the crosshairs of federal and state regulators for years. It paid $225,000 to settle a federal environmental case in 2018. And Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul sued Sims<\/a> in 2021, alleging the company didn\u2019t show that it was controlling hazardous air pollution from its operation at 2500 S. Paulina St.<\/p>\n In an agreement with Raoul, Sims built and installed a new system in April last year that captures air pollution.<\/p>\n But the Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization analyzed data that showed an uptick in heavy metals even after the new pollution controls were in place.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s scary to see these levels,\u201d said Donald Wink, a chemistry professor at the University of Illinois Chicago.<\/p>\n Tests in 2025 showed an increase in levels of arsenic, cadmium, chromium and other metals, according to Wink\u2019s analysis, which also found that manganese levels were not included in test results.<\/p>\n At a news conference Wednesday morning, more than two dozen residents and activists held signs and chanted that Sims should be closed, or at the very least further scrutinized, as it recycles hundreds of thousands of tons of metal a year. State officials should require further testing and ask for additional data before giving the company an air pollution operating permit later this year, they said.<\/p>\n \u201cWho bears the burden of the air pollution from all this activity? Our community,\u201d said Rebeca Ramirez, a lifelong Pilsen resident who said she suffered asthma growing up in the Latino-majority neighborhood.<\/p>\n At one point, members of the group chanted \u201cSims es un vecino asesino,\u201d which translates to \u201cSims is a murderous neighbor.\u201d<\/p>\n Sims officials dispute the assertions about more metals in the air, saying that federal officials have given the operation a green light, determining that emissions \u201cwould not cause either short- or long-term health effects for the community near the facility.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cFurthermore, the metals samples from that monitoring effort show further decreases in concentrations after construction of the emission capture and control system earlier in 2025,\u201d Sims said in a statement.<\/p>\n A spokeswoman for the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which is controlled by Pritzker, said she couldn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n Sims is a one-of-a-kind metal recycler in Chicago that runs junked cars and other items through a large shredding operation, creating fumes and noise in an industrial area of Pilsen.<\/p>\n The company\u2019s closest competitor was General Iron, which operated in Lincoln Park for decades until it made plans to move to the Southeast Side and closed its North Side site at the end of 2020. After that company built a new shredding operation at East 116th Street along the Calumet River, Mayor Lori Lightfoot decided not to issue a new permit<\/a> following community protests. That decision is still being contested<\/a> in court.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n