the recycling horizon Company recognized for growth and innovation “No unprocessed material is sent overseas. We take the extra steps to protect the environment and the security of the companies whose equipment we process.” Duane Beckett, CEO of Sunnking, Inc., a recycler of electronic and computer equipment and metal scrap, located on Owens Road in Brockport, states that as part of his company policy. The 80,000 square foot facility is a hub of activity as fork lift trucks buzz around the warehouse moving pallets of large cardboard boxes and shrink-wrapped loads of various types of junked equipment. The amount of “stuff” was overwhelming. “We have a “zero landfill policy” goal where we minimize any leftovers from the operation of extracting recyclables; we are close to meeting that goal,” Beckett said. In addition to the warehouse, which operates five days a week, Sunnking also has a bottle and can recycling center in the Village of Brockport and a retail outfit, Computers Etc., which is open seven days a week in downtown Brockport, as well as a shredding operation in Rochester. The seven-year-old company was recently added to the Rochester Top 100 companies, placing 57th, and it also recently made the Hot 500, sponsored by “Entrepreneur” magazine, placing 291st in the country. The computer center in Brockport, which has been in operation over two years, sells both new and refurbished computers to the public. The company obtains the scrap material in various ways; sometimes as a result of trade shows, sometimes ads, other times sponsoring small recycling events, including several highway department hazardous materials collection locations in the county, and by conducting a lot of business-to-business transactions. The company also has two full-time salespeople selling the service and many more internal salespeople selling the commodities they extract. CRT’s can be turned in at the warehouse or the computer store; there is a $5 charge for the service. They are primarily going after material that has a circuit board. “We’ll be holding our second annual collection of electronic equipment exclusively for Xerox employees and retirees in Webster and Henrietta on November 13,” Beckett said. “About 20 to 30 million computers will be discarded this year; around 15 percent are recycled. It’s the fastest growing waste stream in America. There’s a huge amount of material from the private sector to capture but the infrastructure is just not there; there’s no blue box for electronics. Recycling gets rid of from 4 to 8 pounds of lead in every CRT, so it’s important to recycle them,” Beckett said about the e-scrap market. “We have two shredders in Rochester, one has a 40 hp rating, the other has a 100 hp rating. The latter can handle a large office copier. We shred hard drives and other security-related equipment and can salvage materials from that operation.” In conclusion Duane declared: “At the end of the day we are a scrap metal salvage operation and we are at the mercy of the market, which fluctuates daily. Right now business is good and it’s growing.” America Recycles Day is November 15.
© November 11, 2007 - Westside News Inc. |
