Electronic waste is the fastest growing
waste stream in the world.
When we think about single-stream recycling
and putting stuff curbside
we completely overlook every single gadget
in our lives that have circuit boards.
And so, part of it is just,
somebody's got to be looking into this
and providing a solution.
(soft music)
- My name is Amanda LaGrange
and I'm the CEO of Tech Dump & Tech Discounts.
Tech Dump & Tech Discounts, collectively, are an IT asset
disposition organization, which is just a fancy way
of saying electronics recycling, refurbishing, and resale.
We collect excess electronics under the name of Tech Dump,
which then go through a vetted process of sorting,
preparing, testing and then selling
through our Tech Discounts brick and mortar retail store.
Tech Dump actually [had] very interesting start.
We started by wanting to build a business model
that employed and trained individuals
coming out of incarceration
and then landed on a business model
of electronics recycling.
Our work readiness training program is an 18-month program
focused at providing opportunities to stabilize
as an individual re-enters our community.
Our whole goal is to provide them with what they need
to overcome various barriers so that they are ready
to not only get that next job after a program
but retain it and continue to be successful
in their employment.
(upbeat music)
Each year we process between three to four million pounds
of electronics.
We just celebrated the 35 million pound process
since our founding.
We recycle anything with a cable cord or battery.
We see the most of laptops, desktop computers,
we see a lot of TVs, both the old ancient CRT tube TVs
and the newer flat panel TVs
but really, we've seen it all.
A really important part of our process is our tear down team
where they are doing manual dismantling work
with hand tools, with screwdrivers,
and taking apart the elements of electronics.
Getting the plastic separate from the circuit board,
separate from any aluminum or copper.
And sending those items down a conveyor belt,
making sure that they end up in the right component box.
And then those get sent on to vetted certified vendors
for shredding, smelting
and being used as the next electronic.
We can probably recycle a laptop
in a matter of minutes.
But there are certainly a process of getting it
into our facility whether it's our truck team going
and picking those items up,
a person dropping it off to our customer service store
and then going through our sorting process,
which my guess is
that the whole process would take about 30 days.
I think we underestimate how harmful
the contents of our electronics are.
Our electronics today have lead and other harmful components
that especially put into a landfill
and exposed to water can be deadly to our water sources.
It's also overlooking the rich amount of materials
and metals that could be reclaimed rather than requiring us
to continue to mine our natural resources.
There's a lot of bad players in our industry
and a lot of scandals over the years.
And so, when I think about the people who inspire me
in this industry, it's my team.
It's the individuals who show up every day to work.
To test hundreds of monitors.
To use the tiny screws and the tiny screwdrivers needed
to repair laptops, to get them back into our community.
It's the individuals taking apart stuff
that could seem so mundane.
And yet they're reclaiming important resources to recycle
and to turn into something new, and our team
we don't take shortcuts.
We do it the right way.
And we prove out that you can do it the right.
My hope is that Tech Dump is not only a place
that is employing people that are often overlooked
for employment because of a criminal background.
But that we're also proving
that a business can be successful
by prioritizing our work on this amazing group of talent
and that we're proving those stereotypes wrong.
That we're showing that they are amazing people
that might happen to have had experience
in the justice system
and they have so much to bring to our community.