DENVER — Your old electronics can be nostalgic and a reminder of just how far tech has come. They may also be dusty and broken. Belonging in a museum, even. But, one local company is giving old tech a second life.
"We're big believers in reuse before recycle. A big belief for us. Anything that we can salvage and refurbish to keep out of the landfill," said President abd CEO of Techno Rescue, Nidal Allis.
Techno Rescue, in Aurora, specializes in the proper refurbishment or recycling of old electronics. An effort to keep harmful materials out of landfills. Tube T.V.'s, corporate laptops, and lonely remotes find a temporary home here.
"That's our tech team. They're refurbishing, whether it's laptops, mobile devices, iPads, we have an enterprise department to do the servers and network switches. We have game consoles, audio equipment, anything and everything that could be refurbishable that's worth salvaging, is what we do over here," said Allis.
Everything that is dropped off at Techno Rescue goes through a rigorous inspection. Can it be refurbished and resold? If not, are any components worth salvaging for parts? Anything that's left is properly discarded.
"If we can't refurbish it, for whatever reason, then we're going to disassemble it, break it down, and scrap it the proper way to keep it out of the landfill," said Allis.
Harmful chemicals exist in many electronics and would be dangerous to throw into a landfill. It's also illegal, in the state of Colorado, to throw electronics into solid waste landfills.
"Some of the electronic devices contain chemicals that are dangerous for the soil, groundwater, and air. If we dump too much into the dumps, we can accumulate too much in our bodies," Allis said.
Keeping with that mission, Denver7 has partnered with Techno Rescue to help collect your old electronics, keeping them out of the landfill.
"We do 40 or 50 drives a year, but this is by far the biggest one. So we're absolutely fortunate to be partnered with 7 News to be able to do this event for the entire state of Colorado," said Allis. "Within a five-hour time period, we're collecting anywhere from 200,000-to-300,000 pounds of electronics."
That's literal tons of printers, cables, and cameras. But, don't worry. Your photos from that party in 2007? They'll be deleted from your old Nikon Coolpix. Techno Rescue encourages you to wipe your data from all devices, but they will make sure nothing personal is left.
"First and foremost, we're going to protect your identity and your information by providing the data disruption," said Allis.
A chance to clean out your basement, and help Mother Nature.
"Keep it out of the landfill and back in the streets. It's more sustainable and better for our world, it's a better recycling method," said Allis.
On Saturday, Denver7 partnered with Techno Rescue for the Denver7 Electronics Recycling Drive at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Over 1,400 vehicles were served during the event, and 168,150 pounds of electronics were recycled, an increase from last year.
The even was sponsored by 1-800-GOT-JUNK? Denver.
Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what's right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.