|
Electronics refurbishing shop NextStep sets up new store in Springfield, Ore.
(Register-Guard, The (Eugene, OR) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jan. 1--SPRINGFIELD -- NextStep Recycling is set to take its next step on Friday, by expanding into a new receiving depot and thrift store at the old Mohawk Shopping Center in Springfield.
The Eugene nonprofit organization, which focuses on refurbishing and recycling computer and other electronic equipment, is attempting to increase its volume by adding a second location. A new statewide electronics recycling program that takes effect today will eliminate the fees NextStep has charged to recycle some of the most costly-to-handle products. But the state will offer an incentive of 6 cents per pound for recycled items that can't otherwise be reused.
"For us, volume is critical," NextStep Director Lorraine Kerwood said Wednesday. "One of the reasons for opening (in) Springfield was to increase volume."
NextStep will continue to dismantle electronic gear for recycling and to refurbish saleable items at its 25,000-square-foot facility at 2101 W. 10th Ave., near the corner of 10th Avenue and Garfield Street in Eugene. That facility also includes a computer thrift store, which accounts for about half of the organization's income -- with the other half coming from recycling fees.
Kerwood figures that becoming more accessible by adding a second location will attract more donated items for reuse or recycling, and will double NextStep's retail opportunities.
"We're hoping this will be so successful we'll be able to mimic what we did in Eugene, and expand either to the left or to the right," Kerwood said as workers readied a new receiving door and front windows at the 4,000-square-foot location just south of the Bi-Mart on Mohawk Boulevard.
The Springfield storefront -- which will be open on Friday to receive recyclables and for limited retail operations -- once held a Payless shoe store, and most recently was a Friendly Boxer packaging supply outlet.
Kerwood said the facility -- which includes a fenced, 750-square-foot storage yard in back -- is ideal for her operation.
The storage yard will handle a freight container that will be used to store recyclable items before they're moved to NextStep's Eugene warehouse. The shopping center has ample parking spaces and it's centrally located in Springfield.
"We're about getting the technology (equipment) back in the community," Kerwood said. "Our goal is to get everybody's waste in the door, recycle it and then figure out how much of it can be redistributed."
Drew Prociw, NextStep's information technology operations manager, said he and other tech-savvy staff members evaluate all items that are brought in for recycling.
Those that are new enough -- not outdated -- are set aside to be refurbished. The remainder go into the recycling pile to be dismantled for parts.
"The challenge I face is keeping up to date with what I'm building -- making sure it's still going to be beneficial to (customers)," Prociw said. "I strive for two to three years of (computer) life for the user, and most of the time that's true."
Refurbished computers range in price from about $40 to $200 at NextStep, which also deals in television sets, gaming computers and several other electronic products.
The Springfield location will accept only electronic items for recycling. But its thrift store -- which is 1,400 square feet larger than its Eugene counterpart -- will also carry some used office furnishings.
NextStep's Eugene facility accepts electronic equipment along with items including Styrofoam packing material and alkaline batteries.
NextStep always has charged a nominal fee to take in items such as computer monitors and TVs, to cover its costs in handling them. But Oregon's new electronics recycling program, which is funded by electronics manufacturers, allows households, small businesses and nonprofit groups to recycle computers, laptops, monitors and TVs at no cost.
Kerwood founded NextStep Recycling as the Computer Reuse and Recycling Center in 2002. Her goals have been to protect health and the environment by keeping toxins embedded in electronics, such as mercury and lead, out of the land and water; to refurbish computers and other electronics, and put them in the hands of people who otherwise wouldn't have access to the technology; and to provide opportunities for NextStep's 30 employees and hundreds of volunteers.
NextStep recycled more than 6 million pounds of electronics this year, and has refurbished more than 16,500 computers and electronic devices since 2002.
To see more of The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore., or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.registerguard.com.
Copyright (c) 2009, The Register-Guard, Eugene, Ore.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
|
INDUSTRIES
Activate Email 
Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO East, January 20-22, 2010. Miami, FL.
