| A YEAR FROM NOW THAT JAZZY COMPUTER ON
your desk will probably be in the junk pile, replaced
by an even fancier one.
No big deal, right?
A study by Stanford University says that by year-end
PC shipments are expected to reach more than 55-million
units - nearly twice the number in 1997. The National
Safety Council predicts that 300-million personal
computers will need to be recycled over the next
four years, with half of them presently collecting
dust in warehouses. And so on.
This burgeoning mound of tossed PCs, TVs and
other electronic devices has not gone unnoticed
by a company in Tampa that is discovering gold
in obsolete electronics. Creative Recycling Systems
(CRS) specializes in the management of surplus,
obsolete and end-of-life electronic equipment
throughout the Southeast. It has experienced phenomenal
three-year revenue growth in excess of 40 percent
annually, garnered many new contracts - including
one with the entire state of Florida - and is
expanding physical operations statewide and into
Georgia, with plans to open shop in Alabama or
North Carolina.
CRS was started in 1994 by former commercial
real estate salesman Jon Yob, who says that the
impetus for the company was the possibility of
electronics ending up in the trash as obsolescence
occurs. Filling up the landfills is not the only
problem, either.
Yob, 43, says that many electronic devices contain
materials - lead and other heavy metals - that
pose a real hazard for the health of plants, animals,
people and for the viability of the environment
in general. Discarded electronics account for
over half of all heavy metals found in our landfills.
Computers, for example, are complex assemblies
of more than 1,000 materials, many of them highly
toxic, including lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium,
PVC plastics, brominated flame retardants and
acids.
"Storing them in landfills or incinerating them
doesn't make the problem go away," Yob says. "Our
air, water or soil may still be contaminated through
contact with these materials."
CRS develops programs for businesses and municipalities
by determining cost-effective, environmentally
sound methods to remove unwanted equipment while
eliminating sensitive or proprietary information
that may be contained on it. Yob's brother Joe
assists customers in preventing the unauthorized
disclosure of sensitive information from IT products/
devices at the end of the life cycle.
Joe Yob, vice president, is the author of the
Electronic Devices chapter of the McGraw-Hill
Recycling Handbook Second Edition and an American
Banking Journal white paper on how to prevent
IT assets from becoming liabilities.
Jon Yob says that the ultimate purpose is to
provide value to clients while preventing the
toxic materials found in electronics from harming
the environment. "Of the thousands of tons of
equipment that enter our facilities, less than
one percent eventually enters the waste stream,
and it is 100 percent free of contaminants when
it leaves," he says. "Our objective: Zero waste."
How important is a strategic plan
for my business?
It is the bedrock of successful
organizations. Many business owners
are mired in operating their
business day to day. They work
more hours, add
staff, hire consultants,
etc...
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CRS has trained assessment teams that review
the materials and recommend that they be reused
in their present form, de-manufactured for components
or recycled. In de-manufacturing, reusable components
are disassembled and then resold on the secondary
market.
Yob says that the asset management division,
a key focus for future growth, grew in excess
of 120 percent over the last two years. While
providing value and eliminating waste, CRS over
its 11-year history has grown from five employees
in a 13,000-square-foot warehouse to more than
50 employees in seven locations throughout Florida
and Georgia, including Tampa, Atlanta, Miami and
Tallahassee. It recently opened a 40,000- square-foot
facility in east Tampa to house its asset management/remarketing
division. Each new expansion requires at least
seven new employees within the first 30 days.
"New facilities usually add to the bottom line
within the first year," he says.
While he is not giving out actual revenues, Yob
says that he thinks the company could be at "critical
mass" in two to three years. "At that time we
would be in a good position to go public, or do
a strategic partnership with a public company."
Critical mass, he says, is $25- $30 million in
revenues.
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