treehugger.com
Battleground Earth Sneak Peek: Electronic Recyclers International
E-Waste is a Growing Problem
It's not that often that you can see a TV show that includes the recycling of electronics in the plot, but
Battleground Earth (Thursdays at 8pm Eastern on TLC)
isn't just any regular ol' show. In episode #9, Tommy Lee and Ludacris will tackle an e-waste problem in Downtown LA with
the help of Electronic Recyclers International (ERI), the largest e-waste
recycler in the US with over 170 million pound per year (we
wrote about them a couple of years ago).
Recycling Computers & Electronics
Mountains of discarded computers and portable electronics are being thrown out every month, and most of them contain
dangerous chemicals, and even if they didn't, it's such a waste to landfill all those materials that could still be
useful. That's why it's very important to learn how to
pick green(er) electronics
when you buy, and to recycle them at the
end of their useful lives.
To find out more about Electronic Recyclers International and electronics recycling, tune in to
Battleground Earth.
America's Business
Mike Hambrick from America's Business interviews John Shegerian
Listen to the interview below:
Sacramento Bee
Save Mart Stores Promote Environmental Safety, Host E-waste Recycling Events on May 17 and 18
May 15, 2008
Save Mart Stores in Los Banos, Riverbank, Selma, Delano, Atwater, and
Manteca Partner With ERI to Provide Local Drop-off Locations for E-waste
A half-dozen Save Mart stores in California's Central Valley will promote
environmental safety in their communities by hosting e-waste recycling events
this weekend in partnership with Electronic Recyclers International® (ERI), a
leading recycler of electronic waste. ERI recycles TVs, monitors, computers,
cell phones, and other types of consumer electronics.
Electronic equipment contains environmentally damaging materials and can be
harmful to human health if improperly discarded. It is illegal to throw away
certain electronic items, such as TVs and computer monitors, with regular
garbage or trash. These two-day events will allow residents in the communities
that Save Mart serves to surrender their e-waste safely and legally. In
addition, properly recycled e-waste yields valuable, reusable resources such
as plastic, metal, and glass.
The following Save Mart stores will be set-up to receive e-waste on Saturday and
Sunday, May 17 and 18, from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.:
- Los Banos – 1337 Pacheco Boulevard, 209-357-9840
- Riverbank – 2237 Claribel Road, 209-863-1480
- Selma – 2859 Whitson Street, 559-896-4203
- Delano – 1700 High Street, 661-725-2733
- Atwater – 351 Bellevue, 209-358-7932
- Manteca – 1172 North Main Street, 209-239-2267
CNET News
Companies to watch in green tech: Recycling
Tuesday April 21, 2008
More than 200 million pounds of electronic waste went to recyclers in California
alone in 2007, according to John Shegerian, CEO of Electronic Recyclers, one of
the largest e-waste recyclers in the U.S. And roughly 80 million analog TVs will
get heaved out in 2008 and 2009. The European Union and four states have already
implemented e-waste regulation and more are expected to follow.
The companies make their money in a couple of ways. First, governments pay them
to process waste. Second, recyclers are free to refurbish and resell equipment.
Third, if the PC must get melted down, the raw materials can be sold as commodities.
FOX Business
Terrence Grady Joins Electronic Recyclers International® to Head East Coast Sales
Tuesday April 8, 2008
Electronic Recyclers International® (ERI), the nation's leading recycler of electronics
and e-waste, announced today that Terrence Grady has joined its staff as Recycling
Specialist, overseeing sales efforts for ERI's East Coast operations.
With twenty-nine years experience as a sales management professional in the solid waste
industry, including the last fourteen years as a municipal services manager for the New
England area for Allied Waste Services, Grady brings to ERI a rich background in the
commercial, industrial, and residential solid waste industry as well as a deep
understanding of waste industry activities and issues relative to collection, disposal,
and transportation.
"Having Terry join our team emphasizes our commitment to industry expertise on a
coast-to-coast level," said John S. Shegerian, ERI's President and CEO. "He is
known as one of the industry's leading problem solvers, and many years of first-hand
experience, not only in relationship-building for this industry but also playing a key
role in clarifying and resolving contractual and service issues with municipalities on
behalf of the collection districts while negotiating new contracts and existing contract
extensions. He really knows this industry inside and out. We are proud he's here and I'm
confident his presence will help take us to yet another level as we continue to expand
into other states around the country."
As Municipal Services Manager for Allied Waste Services' New England office, Grady oversaw
and coordinated the bidding/proposal process for residential contracts for all collection
districts within the states of New England and developed pricing models for all bids and
proposals using operational, financial, and demographic data.
Grady sits on the Board of Directors for MassRecycle and has been a Massachusetts and New
York member of the Solid Waste Association of North America since 1995. He is a four-time
winner of the President's Club Award for Outstanding Achievement in Sales.
Forbes.com
Rehab, Reuse, Recycle
Wednesday April 2, 2008
John Shegerian gives second chances to busted computers--and to former addicts and ex-cons.
Touring the grounds of Electronic Recyclers International® in Fresno, Calif. is unnerving, like an unarmed walk
through a prison yard. Tattooed, muscular men tear apart computers with hammers and electric drills. A guy with
a gang insignia etched onto his neck hoists a monitor over his head. Another rips the face off an old television
with his bare hands. Machines chomp and grind gadgets and cell phones, spitting out shards of metal, plastic and
glass. Sharp edges and ex-cons are everywhere you look.
But ERI Chief Executive John S. Shegerian strolls comfortably through the place, dressed in a three-piece suit,
green tie, cufflinks and Rolex. Like a lot of right-minded businessmen these days, he espouses the importance of
doing good while making a profit. "I believe you can recycle everything," he says, "including lives."
Shegerian aims to be the biggest among the 700 or so electronics recyclers in the U.S. He's already a leader in
California, which in 2006 banned all electronics from its landfills. Electronics can contain toxins such as
cadmium, mercury and chromium. California first outlawed dumping of lead-heavy cathode ray tubes in 2001. Ten other
states, including Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, have passed their own laws banning e-waste.
ERI brought in $30 million in revenue last year, and Shegerian, 45, expects to gross twice that much this year.
Operating income (earnings before interest, taxes and depreciation) was $3 million last year and should double in
2008. Over the next 18 months he plans to open five more recycling centers across the country, up from the two he
has in Fresno and Gardner, Mass. "Electronics are the fastest-growing solid waste stream in the world,"
he says.
At a big enough scale, Shegerian hopes to stanch the flow of electronic waste exported to poor countries overseas.
Over the next three years Americans will throw out maybe 110 million computers, 80 million television sets and 350
million cell phones. The majority of electronics recyclers don't even bother recycling this waste. They just ship
it to India, Southeast Asia, China and Africa. Organizations such as the Basel Action Network and Greenpeace say
workers there, often children making pennies a day, troll mounds of garbage in search of computers and TVs. Lacking
proper tools to tear open computer shells, they burn the plastic to get to the valuable stuff inside, breathing
noxious fumes. They dip circuit boards in acid and melt lead in the same pans they use to cook their meager meals.
They toss any remains back on the pile, where toxins seep into water supplies.
Peter Muscanelli, president of the International Association of Electronics Recyclers, downplays the harm done by
exported waste. "There are illegal actions done by every field," he says. "Whether it is dog food
or something else, there will always be someone who will export a product that will be tainted."
Shegerian exports to foreign dumps none of the 8 million pounds of electronics ERI processes each month. His
glass-crushing machines are hermetically sealed to trap lead dust. In March he bought a $4 million automated system
that crushes, shreds and sorts metals and plastics using magnets, X rays and other sensors. He even has cameras
inside shredding machines to provide clients such as banks evidence that their disk drives really are destroyed.
"I meet with people and try to tell them how to do this the right way," he says. "They say, 'What?
We're making money. Who cares? No one will ever find that stuff in China.'"
He wants to open his next few recycling centers in rusty, neglected neighborhoods. It's all very much in keeping
with his drive to rehabilitate whatever he comes in contact with: people, places, things. One-third of ERI's 200
full- and part-time employees are in its "second chances" program, which includes ex-cons and former
addicts. It so happens these workers have a 17% turnover rate, half that of other employees. But Shegerian also
likes to surround himself with ex-cons as a way to remember how fragile a "normal" life can be.
He grew up in New York City, in the Borough of Queens, the son of a printer and a housewife. His father split when
he was 5, and his mother ended up on welfare. Shegerian took his first job at age 10, grooming horses and mucking
stalls. In his teens he raced horses as a harness driver. He started reading forbes at 14 and dreamed of becoming
an entrepreneur. A few years later he raised money from the owners of dry cleaners and pizza parlors to buy
racehorses he managed.
He moved to Los Angeles to work for a real estate development company and in 1992 took over a tortilla shop one of
his tenants abandoned after the Rodney King riots. He brought in Father Gregory Boyle, a Jesuit priest who preached
about giving second chances to troubled kids. They staffed the shop with former gang members and renamed the business
Homeboy Tortillas. "I decided then that whatever I do in my professional life will also have a heart,"
Shegerian says.
He left L.A. in 1996 to move to Fresno, where he opened a restaurant and brewery with some investors. He left in 2001
to cofound a Web site called Financialaid.com that helped kids get access to money for college.
Everything came to a halt in late 2003, when Shegerian acknowledged to his wife that he had a serious problem: He was
a sex addict and had been cheating on her for years with random female partners. "I was living a double life," he says.
His wife kicked him out, and in April 2004 he checked into a rehab clinic in Arizona. It was a tumultuous time. That
fall, within a span of several weeks, his wife divorced him, his father died, and the Web site, of which he owned a
third, was sold to Education Lending Group for $20 million in cash and stock.
In late 2004 he was approached by a friend to help a struggling recycling business in San Diego. Shegerian raised a sum
of $12.5 million from hedge funds and angel investors to build the business. He takes no salary, but he owns 20% of ERI's
equity and all the voting shares. He moved the business north to Fresno, where he spends less on rent and gets a tax break
for hiring people in a low-employment region. He also got back together with his wife, who runs operations at ERI.
The state of California pays recyclers like ERI 48 cents a pound to crunch up television sets and LCD screens. The state
requires ERI to give 20 cents of that back to the schools, churches and other groups that bring him the displays. Government
fees make up 44% of ERI's revenue, but the price of that government work is having to fill out 7,000 pages of paperwork a
month establishing the provenance and disposition of every piece of junk processed.
The rest of ERI's revenue comes from collection fees, fixing up and reselling what's salvageable and selling the waste.
Plastic from a computer keyboard, for example, brings in 15 cents a pound; steel, 12 cents; aluminum, 70 cents; and
microchips containing precious metals, $75.
Shegerian's plans to be the nation's number one electronics recycler will take him head-on with giants such as Waste Management
and Allied Waste. They may not share his social mission, but they have the capital to match him in equipment. "I know the
fragility of life," he says. "It would be an absolute shame if I didn't do something with this opportunity."
Yahoo! Finance
Peter Prinz Joins Electronic Recyclers International® as Chief Automation Engineer
Tuesday April 1, 2008
Electronic Recyclers International® (ERI), the nation's leading recycler of electronics and e-waste,
announced today that Peter Prinz, one of the country's foremost shredding engineers, has joined its
staff as Project Manager and Chief Automation Engineer.
"Having Pete join our team illustrates our commitment to state-of-the-art technology for this
industry," said John S. Shegerian, ERI's President and CEO. "Pete is known as one of the
most experienced shredding engineers in the business, and will play a key leadership role in our
installation of revolutionary new shredding systems, organization-wide. We are extremely proud he's
here and I'm confident his presence will help take us to yet another level."
Earlier in his career, Prinz also served as Vice President of Operations for Recycling Industries, a
scrap metal roll-up corporation in Denver. While there, he had responsibility for managing 13 scrap
metal operations in 9 states.
He has also served as President of Hawco Manufacturing, a producer of large material handling buckets
and grapples for the timber, scrap metal, dredging, ship loading and other industries handling large
quantities of bulk material. Prinz tripled the size of the company and became the first in the industry
with an ISO 9001 certification.
Prinz also designed, coordinated and patented the first successful ash recovery systems for Waste
Management's 4000 ton per day waste-to-power incinerator in Florida, a unit that is still running today.
He started in the scrap metal industry with the installation and design of the first of the Super Auto
shredders in 1975 for Miller Compressing and has worked for the David J. Joseph Company and Southern
Holdings as a Plant Manager and Project Manager in the set up of heavy processing systems.
Brandweek
1-800-Recycling Aims to Clean Up
March 19, 2008
By Kenneth Kein
This week, 1-800-Recycling launched. The company, a division of Electronic Recyclers
International®, aims to be the top resource for responsible recycling across the country.
John Shegerian, CEO of 1-800-Recycling, Fresno, Calif., originally bought the failing
Computer Recyclers of America in 2002 and changed the name to Electronic Recyclers
International®. For the past 12 months he has pursued the 1-800-Recycling name. The phone
number and URL were owned privately and a deal was finally completed. (1-800-Recycle and
1-800-Recycles are owned by the government.)
Over the past six years, Shegerian's company has become the No. 1 electronics waste recycling
brand. Shegerian is looking to expand his empire by partnering with all types of recycling
agencies throughout the country.
Consumers looking to properly dispose of tires, paint, glass and other items will soon be able
to call the number for a location where they can bring the products. 1-800-Recycling receives
a fee for the referral and the recycler makes money by repurposing the items. Tires, for example,
are recycled into clothes and other products.
1-800-Recycling is active, but the Web site has yet to launch. The new brand will be promoted
online with other possible traditional marketing efforts in the future.
"We want to be the No. 1 recycling brand in America," said Shegerian. "Look at what
Al Gore has done and what the media has done to raise consciousness in America. We need to make it
part of the American DNA... It's great to make a difference and a profit."
Shegerian is no stranger to profits. He co-founded the student loan company Financialaid.com and
sold it for more than $25 million in 2005. He also owns Addicted.com, which is the largest social
network in existence dedicated to addiction and recovery.
Brandweek
Recycling Becomes Electric for CE Brands
May 11, 2008
By Steve Miller
EWaste management has gone from being a headache to a marketing tool. Electronics
manufacturers and retailers are attempting to address the problem and give themselves
a green halo by encouraging consumers to recycle old TVs, computers and other devices.
Sony, Hewlett-Packard, Office Depot, Best Buy and even 1-800-Flowers.com are among the
many companies promoting recycling in their marketing efforts.
Obsolescence and trading up in consumer electronics generates up to 1.9 million tons of
discarded electronics per year, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The
refuse jams landfills with toxic ingredients and emits hazardous gases.
The issue will take a higher profile as the government-mandated switch to all digital TV
signals in February approaches. The shift should accelerate the move away from analog TV
sets and make the mound of cathode ray tubes that much higher.
Sony, which last week announced the availability of its lower cost Bravia M line of LCD
TVs, has paired with Waste Management, Houston, for a series of events around the country.
The "Take Back Recycling Program" invites consumers to leave behind their unwanted
devices for no charge.
Sony will plug the program with a national ad campaign, via BBDO, New York, this summer.
New TV, print and online promotes recycling by recycling old ads for once cutting-edge
products. "It really does help the brand," said Stuart Redsun, svp-corporate
marketing, Sony Electronics, San Diego. "We've found that consumers who have dropped
off their products have even stronger ties to the Sony brand, being that we did this for
them for free. It also makes them feel good about themselves."
1-800-Flowers.com is launching a nationwide computer recycling program, starting with a
June 4 event at its Carle Place, N.Y. headquarters in which donors receive a 15% off coupon.
Hewlett-Packard and Staples partnered with NBC Universal during Earth Week to launch the
company's "Green is Universal" initiative. The kickoff event featured Matt Lauer
and the NBC Today crew hauling in junked computers and cell phones for recycling. Electronic
Recyclers International® (ERI), Fresno, Calif., handled disposal of the items.
Consumers were invited to also bring their old equipment to participating Staples stores. HP
offered $50 off its more energy-efficient printers and $150 off select computers in exchange
for old models.
"It begins to feel strange when you've always had this focus on the environment before and
now all of a sudden it's fashionable," said David Roman, vp-marketing communications for
HP's personal systems group. "Now we have to find a way to gracefully fold it into the
marketing."
But recycling is of growing importance to consumers. A recent Consumer Electronics Association
report found recycling electronics devices has increased 9% in terms of importance to consumers
since 2005.
In all, eWaste is an eco-tragedy that offers both peril and potential for a marketer. "It's
one of those things that you have to get involved with because if you don't someone will call
you out," said Rob Enderle, principal at Enderle Group, San Jose, Calif. "Things like
recycling and energy use are a big concern to both vendors and individuals, and they do take
these things into consideration [when selecting a] brand."
Best Buy claims to have among the most expansive recycling programs going, from weekend eWaste
roundups at its stores to its "Tech Trade-in" program where consumers can trade in
gently used electronics for a Best Buy gift card.
Office Depot also offers in-store recycling bins, which gives the retailer a chance to engage
the consumer in its line of green office products like recycled printer ink cartridges and
printer paper, said Yalmaz Siddiqui, director of environmental strategy for Office Depot,
Delray Beach, Fla. "There is a great cross-sell opportunity. People can go from the
recycling service in the stores to the green products we offer." There's a risk when
brands are competing to be greener than the next, said Roman. "I don't see it now, but
it would trivialize things if it started to happen."
Even though it is in its infancy stage, ERI CEO John Shegerian said getting on the e-recycling
bandwagon is a an important opportunity. "Brands don't want to blow this."