A Word About Recycling with Ollie Maier

Continuing from last week with some of the effects the coronavirus is having on recycling. It is affecting not only pickups but what is being recycled, as well as what is happening to the Buy-Back area.

One example is a company in the San Francisco area, which had to temporarily stop its regular service of picking up computers from businesses for recycling. However, it started selling many of the computers it had refurbished online.

The company found most of the computers were being used for a work-from-home situation. Then they discovered there was a demand for docking stations and laptop chargers. Now, their working laptops are also moving quickly.

“These sales are helping a lot to keep revenue coming in,” a spokesperson for the company stated. “It’s our hope that the sales will continue, along with the government assistance for our team, and we will be able to navigate our way back to business as normal as soon as it’s safe.”

Going across the country to Long Island, New York, we find a company which had to close part of its repair and refurbishment operation and instead concentrate on selling used equipment. Working with mainly mobile phones and phone motherboards, they are experiencing a high demand for them now. They believe this is due to employees wanting internet connectivity while working from home.

Somewhat surprising, one of the sales "hotspots" is China. As might be expected, companies in Europe and the U.S. aren’t buying a lot of repair stock, which allows China to get these products at a lower price.

And a company in Pennsylvania is finding that with only about 50% of its normal quantity of material coming in the door, the company is going through its inventory of working electronics fast.

They have found with the mandated closures, companies which normally used to supply used equipment to refurbishers, can’t get the necessary approvals to release assets as these companies are now focused on other higher priority concerns.

However, the demand remains high for both working equipment and components. They even get requests for the older-style CRTs used for medical equipment.

Going to Michigan, we find an industry is providing students whose schools are closed due to the virus with computers at just a break-even price. “In times like these, it isn’t about making a profit; it’s about doing the right thing,” a spokesperson for the company said. As another spokesperson from the electronics repair industry explained, there probably is a silver-lining to all this. “Life will return to normal, but not before many thousands of people have had a positive experience working on quality refurbished hardware.” So till next week, do have an enjoyable, safe and Happy Easter.

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Ollie is a local citizen concerned with the environment and helping others. A retired Air Force fighter and instructor pilot, he is a graduate of Leadership San Marcos and received his degrees at Texas State University where he worked on staff before totally retiring. For questions or comments, he invites you to call him at 512-353-7432.