California Entrepreneur Finds Profit Amid Piles of Electronic Waste

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California Entrepreneur Finds Profit Amid Piles of Electronic Waste
Barry Keyes doesn’t mind saying the environment was a secondary concern when he decided to go into the recycling business.

“This started because I threw away a cartridge from a printer,” said Keyes, a serial entrepreneur who started out in the shipping business and, at 70, shows no signs of slowing down. “I saw trash and turned it into cash. There was a huge appetite from manufacturers so they could refill (them).”

Since that aha-moment, back in 2003, the Palm Desert resident has been on a mission to make recycling easy and convenient for individuals and businesses. His first business, GreenSense — originally called Coastal Recycling — offers a mail-in service for the recycling of printer and toner cartridges and other small electronics.

Six years later, Keyes launched GreenSpot Dropoff, with the goal of ensuring that anyone anywhere in the U.S. could drop off computers, televisions and other electronic recyclables within 5 miles of home.

The company focuses on setting up its drop­off spots at self-storage companies, and while Keyes still has a way to go to the 5-mile goal, he now has GreenSpots across California, with a smaller number of outposts in Texas and Pennsylvania.

Beyond the convenience, Keyes’ pitch to self-storage businesses is that providing e-waste recycling will draw in more customers needing storage space.

On a recent visit to Sparky’s Self-Storage in Thousand Palms, one of several GreenSpots in the Coachella Valley, Keyes checked out the storage unit the company rents there, filled with large bins, called gaylords. Each bin can can hold up to 500 pounds of equipment, he said, and on this trip, many of them were already filled with computers and televisions, including a vintage 1960s console set.

In industry terms, Keyes and GreenSpot are collectors — the company is officially registered with the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery — meaning it does not do any recycling itself. Rather, recyclables at Sparky’s are picked up about once every other month, he said, and shipped to recyclers that are certified to ensure none of the material ends up in landfills or is shipped overseas.

Sparky’s manager, Irene Pilien, says a big GreenSpot sign on her building, visible from nearby Interstate 10, draws in people and their used electronics. Like much business in the Coachella Valley, e-waste recycling can be seasonal, she said.

“When it really picks up, in late September and October, people come back into the area. They are cleaning up,” she said.

At Best Choice Storage 1 in Yuba City, 40 miles north of Sacramento, pickup occurs once every three to four months, said site manager Sonja Frederiksen. The business has worked with GreenSpot for about two years, and having convenient recycling has attracted some new storage customers, she said.

“We have a lot of businesses that drop off stuff as well,” she said. “We’re centrally located, right in the middle of the city, so we’re an easy drop-off spot.”

Keyes seems to have hit a sweet spot in the recycling business, which worldwide generates billions of dollars a year, said Mandy Knudtson, business manager for E-Stewards, one of two widely used certification services for recyclers.

The group has yet to develop a certification for collectors such as GreenSpot, she said, though that could come in the future. “It’s definitely a niche, the collecting side,” she said. “There are 26 states that have electronic waste policies.”

California is one of the only states that adds a recycling fee to the price of new electronics, which goes into a state fund used to cover recycling costs. Customers dropping off e-waste at GreenSpot locations fill out a brief tracking form that is used to allocate money from the fund to pay recyclers.

In the meantime, a decade in the recycling business has raised Keyes’ environmental awareness and sharpened his vision of the possibilities of the green business sector.

“I backed into that,” he said of his evolving eco-sensibilities. “We can provide a way for the public to do the right thing.”

For his next venture, Keyes is wading into the growing sector of green and clean tech trade shows and conferences, which in recent years has exploded into almost weekly events ranging from consumer fairs for green products to smart meter equipment expos to high-level confabs for renewable energy investors.

Once again focusing on cost and convenience, he is launching an online virtual trade show called Eco Expo 365, which he envisions as a clearinghouse of resources for green businesses and groups, available around the clock, with online job fairs, live chats and streaming workshops.

While still in its early stages, the website has attracted some major sponsors, such as Via Motors, a Utah-based company specializing in electric trucks and vans. Keyes said the site will also be open to traditional, non-green businesses as supporting sponsors.

“The show is a forum,” he said. “We’re trying to get into any market. People need to be educated. People need to understand we can do a lot more.”

California Entrepreneur Finds Profit Amid Piles of Electronic Waste
Barry Keyes doesn’t mind saying the environment was a secondary concern when he decided to go into the recycling business.

“This started because I threw away a cartridge from a printer,” said Keyes, a serial entrepreneur who started out in the shipping business and, at 70, shows no signs of slowing down. “I saw trash and turned it into cash. There was a huge appetite from manufacturers so they could refill (them).”

Since that aha-moment, back in 2003, the Palm Desert resident has been on a mission to make recycling easy and convenient for individuals and businesses. His first business, GreenSense — originally called Coastal Recycling — offers a mail-in service for the recycling of printer and toner cartridges and other small electronics.

Six years later, Keyes launched GreenSpot Dropoff, with the goal of ensuring that anyone anywhere in the U.S. could drop off computers, televisions and other electronic recyclables within 5 miles of home.

The company focuses on setting up its drop­off spots at self-storage companies, and while Keyes still has a way to go to the 5-mile goal, he now has GreenSpots across California, with a smaller number of outposts in Texas and Pennsylvania.

Beyond the convenience, Keyes’ pitch to self-storage businesses is that providing e-waste recycling will draw in more customers needing storage space.

On a recent visit to Sparky’s Self-Storage in Thousand Palms, one of several GreenSpots in the Coachella Valley, Keyes checked out the storage unit the company rents there, filled with large bins, called gaylords. Each bin can can hold up to 500 pounds of equipment, he said, and on this trip, many of them were already filled with computers and televisions, including a vintage 1960s console set.

In industry terms, Keyes and GreenSpot are collectors — the company is officially registered with the California Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery — meaning it does not do any recycling itself. Rather, recyclables at Sparky’s are picked up about once every other month, he said, and shipped to recyclers that are certified to ensure none of the material ends up in landfills or is shipped overseas.

Sparky’s manager, Irene Pilien, says a big GreenSpot sign on her building, visible from nearby Interstate 10, draws in people and their used electronics. Like much business in the Coachella Valley, e-waste recycling can be seasonal, she said.

“When it really picks up, in late September and October, people come back into the area. They are cleaning up,” she said.

At Best Choice Storage 1 in Yuba City, 40 miles north of Sacramento, pickup occurs once every three to four months, said site manager Sonja Frederiksen. The business has worked with GreenSpot for about two years, and having convenient recycling has attracted some new storage customers, she said.

“We have a lot of businesses that drop off stuff as well,” she said. “We’re centrally located, right in the middle of the city, so we’re an easy drop-off spot.”

Keyes seems to have hit a sweet spot in the recycling business, which worldwide generates billions of dollars a year, said Mandy Knudtson, business manager for E-Stewards, one of two widely used certification services for recyclers.

The group has yet to develop a certification for collectors such as GreenSpot, she said, though that could come in the future. “It’s definitely a niche, the collecting side,” she said. “There are 26 states that have electronic waste policies.”

California is one of the only states that adds a recycling fee to the price of new electronics, which goes into a state fund used to cover recycling costs. Customers dropping off e-waste at GreenSpot locations fill out a brief tracking form that is used to allocate money from the fund to pay recyclers.

In the meantime, a decade in the recycling business has raised Keyes’ environmental awareness and sharpened his vision of the possibilities of the green business sector.

“I backed into that,” he said of his evolving eco-sensibilities. “We can provide a way for the public to do the right thing.”

For his next venture, Keyes is wading into the growing sector of green and clean tech trade shows and conferences, which in recent years has exploded into almost weekly events ranging from consumer fairs for green products to smart meter equipment expos to high-level confabs for renewable energy investors.

Once again focusing on cost and convenience, he is launching an online virtual trade show called Eco Expo 365, which he envisions as a clearinghouse of resources for green businesses and groups, available around the clock, with online job fairs, live chats and streaming workshops.

While still in its early stages, the website has attracted some major sponsors, such as Via Motors, a Utah-based company specializing in electric trucks and vans. Keyes said the site will also be open to traditional, non-green businesses as supporting sponsors.

“The show is a forum,” he said. “We’re trying to get into any market. People need to be educated. People need to understand we can do a lot more.”

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October 3, 2013 at 10:48 AM