Waste
Management found itself in a predicament when its recycler of electronics had to
pull out of the Fabius Township site
By Jef
Rietsma
Journal Correspondent
Posted Apr. 11, 2014
Three Rivers
Journal Correspondent
Posted Apr. 11, 2014
Three Rivers
Waste Management found itself in a predicament when its recycler of electronics had to pull out of the Fabius Township site.
District manager Eric Shafer said Universal Recycling Technologies quit receiving subsidies from the electronics manufacturers at the start of the year. Consequently, it removed its electronics recycling box from the Waste Management site.
 |
Cory
Pyscher, e-scrap operations manager, shows a box of mangled hard drives at
Schupan Industrial Recycling Services in Kalamazoo. Schupan and Waste Management
in Three Rivers are entering into a contract for recycling of
electronics.
“The problem that created was, by law, we have to take electronics
because they are a household hazard … there’s mercury, lead, toxins and other
materials that keep them from being put in the landfill,” he said. “So, they
have to get recycled and without URT here, there wasn’t a regional facility
nearby and we were having to send trucks up to Minnesota, which wasn’t cheap.”
Shafer said he has suggested patrons hold on to their electronics until
the St. Joseph County Solid Waste Management Committee stages its twice-year
collection at the fairgrounds.
Still, he knew Waste Management needed to have an electronics
recycler on hand.
He eventually sent a request for proposal, seeking a local company
to accept the electronics dropped off at the site, which led to a courtship
with Kalamazoo-based Schupan Industrial Recycling Services.
The fact Schupan was in Kalamazoo was perfect, Shafer said. The
only reservation was the company did not have a critical certification, which
ensures the electronics it takes in meet critical standards.
Shafer said there’s a verification process called R2/RIOS, a
government program that confirms a recycling company has gone through due
diligence to handle its electronics in an environmentally friendly manner.
“Basically, it’s confirmation that anything we pass on to them
isn’t going to end up in someone’s backyard, alongside some country road or in
a third-world country,” Shafer said. “What really gained my confidence was
comments and feedback from Solid Waste Committee members, who said the research
they had done indicated Schupan had a stellar reputation, far and away.”
Shafer said Schupan’s Cory Pyscher, e-scrap operations manager,
indicated the company has just about completed the R2/RIOS certification
process. Once the procedure is official — Pyscher said it will be about mid-May
— the two companies will have an official partnership.
“We’re excited to soon have a working relationship with Waste
Management of Three Rivers,” Pyscher said. “The R2/RIOS is a huge deal for us,
there are only 11 certified in the state, so it will open a lot of doors for
us.”
Schupan has about 1,100 clients, including Colon, Burr Oak,
Mendon, White Pigeon, Constantine and Three Rivers school districts, as well as
the St. Joseph County Intermediate School District.
Pyscher said old computers and computer accessories are broken
into pieces and just about all parts are recycled in some manner. He
demonstrated its hard-drive grinder, which consists of a pair of steel cogs
that mangle the square-shaped hard drives into a piece of scrap in seconds. The
key-operated machine is kept in a locked room so the hard drives and data they
may contain are secure.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment