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Colorado Springs recycling nonprofit joins national network [Gazette, The (CO)]
[October 24, 2014]

Colorado Springs recycling nonprofit joins national network [Gazette, The (CO)]


(Gazette, The (CO) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Since its founding in 2009, Blue Star Recyclers of Colorado Springs has operated as a social enterprise - a nonprofit that employs for-profit business practices, but which creates a positive social impact. In Blue Star's case, it hires people with autism and other disabilities.



Now, Blue Star isn't just recycling its operating model; it's leveraging it.

Blue Star, which recycles and sells materials mainly from computers and other electronics, is joining a half-dozen similar groups from around the country to establish a network of social enterprise electronics recyclers, said co-founder and CEO Bill Morris. They hope their strength-in-numbers approach will improve their bottom lines and expand their social impact, he said.


"We been here five years doing this and it's been pretty tough," Morris said. "The learning curve's pretty steep. To find six other organizations that look like Blue Star, that are in some form of development ... the sharing of best practices is just unbelievably valuable." Blue Star and the six organizations met this week in the Springs to hammer out plans for their network, which will be called Impact Recyclers. It's scheduled for an official launch in January.

By joining forces, Morris said, the recycling organizations hope to grow through the addition of national accounts, command higher prices for the recycled goods they sell and purchase supplies at lower costs - all of which will help them hire more people.

Morris said the idea for the network started this year at a conference in Nashville of the Social Enterprise Alliance of suburban Minneapolis, a national organization with more than 900 members. REDF, a California-based nonprofit that supports social enterprises who employ people with disabilities, offered its help to form a national recycling network. That led to this week's meetings in the Springs with recycling organizations from New York, Los Angeles, northern California, Minneapolis, Atlanta and Indianapolis.

As envisioned, network members would continue to operate individually, but band together as needed when it comes to landing customers, selling goods and the like, Morris said.

Right now, Blue Star collects unwanted electronics and sells most of those materials to certified processors. But if network members could combine materials, they could sell them collectively and get a higher price than a member could get on its own.

Another potential benefit: acquiring national accounts. Morris said Los Angeles-based Isidore Recycling is seeking to land information technology giant Hewlett-Packard of California as a customer. If that happens, Morris hopes Blue Star would handle the recycling of HP's electronic materials from its Colorado operations.

Through the network, Morris hopes to increase Blue Star's revenues and jobs by at least 10 percent. Blue Star employs 24 people in the Springs and could have 50 in Colorado by late next year after it opens a location in Denver on Dec. 1.

The network also hopes to add members to broaden its geographic reach, Morris said. Talks are underway with potential members to cover the Pacific Northwest, the Midwest and Texas, he said.

"Our job is to increase recycling diversion in Colorado and reduce unemployment for people with disabilities," Morris said. "And we just see the network as a mechanism to help us do that better." (c) 2014 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved.

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