Have old electronics laying around? This GR nonprofit will recycle them
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A Grand Rapids nonprofit is working to keep electronics out of the landfill by recycling them.
has two drop-off locations, one at near MLK Jr. Street, and the other located at near Northville Drive.
It offers free recycling for items like laptops, desktops, cellphones and gaming consoles. Other items, including TVs, batteries and smoke detectors, can be recycled for various prices . Along with recycling, it also has a computer repair service.
"We love technology here, but our purpose is really to ensure that technology benefits people and doesn't cause harm," Comprenew President Scott VanderKooy told News 8. "Comprenew is all about keeping used electronics out of the landfill. And if at all possible, putting them back to you so they can benefit people."
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Comprenew hosted events for Tech Week Grand Rapids, including offering tours at its recycling facility until 4 p.m. Friday .
"In many ways (Grand Rapids) is becoming a real strong technical hub and a leader," VanderKooy said. "We're just happy to be a part of it and we're happy that Tech Week has created space for the sustainability question connected to electronics."
The nonprofit gets about five truckloads of items a day, VanderKooy said. He said about 30% comes from residents, including collection events hosted by local municipalities, while about 70% comes from the organization's corporate customers.
Comprenew, which has multiple certifications when it comes to recycling and data protection, works to get everything through its system in about 30 days. The team will first evaluate the electronics and work to remove all data, sometimes by shredding the hard drive.
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Some of the items are refurbished to be sold by Comprenew, either online or in its showroom. Most are disassembled, with the parts sent to various partners for recycling.
The organization's AWARE team — Adults With Autism Recycling Electronics — dissembles the items.
"That's part of our mission as well, is to employ people living with autism," VanderKooy said. "Without question, they are superstars here at Comprenew."
Most of what the team gets are electronics like laptops and desktops. But they also get things like RC cars, electric toothbrushes and electric guitars. They've even received oscilloscopes from old scientific labs.
Currently, Comprenew is seeing a big demand for refurbished VCR players.
"We have electronics that come in from the 1940s. We also have product that comes in that's brand new," VanderKooy said.
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The majority of electronics nationwide are not properly recycled, VanderKooy said.
"We all need to do a much better job together as far as making sure our electronics don't end up in a landfill," he said.
Along with Comprenew, Kent County Public Works has a guide to recycling electronics in the county.
When an item isn't recycled and it ends up in the landfill, it can cause harm.
"Electronics contain a lot of harmful chemicals, and if they are landfilled and they get into the water stream that causes a big problem," VanderKooy said. "Electronics is the fastest growing part of our waste stream. And that's probably not going to stop. ... There are more gadgets being produced every single day and designed every single day."
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Manufacturers typically aren't thinking about the end of life of an item in the design process, he said.
"They are assuming their job is to simply design a product that makes them money. And certainly there's nothing wrong with that, but there's another piece of this, too, and that is, what happens with that product at the end of life?" he said. "Unfortunately, some of the biggest brands that we all know and love don't consider the end of life the way they should."
Sometimes items are glued together, making them difficult to dissemble, or the part that stores data is too embedded in the device, making it difficult to recycle.
"Many of those gadgets are not at all designed for recycling, which is really unfortunate," he said. "The manufacturers need to do a better job."
VanderKooy encouraged people to make smarter decisions when buying technology and to think about what will happen with the device once you're done with it.
"We just need to be a lot smarter and apply that intelligence to our technical buys," VanderKooy said. "Let's not just look for the latest and greatest, but let's look for technology that can bring the greatest benefit to people long term."
