Call them the bake sales of the 21st century. From chambers of commerce to churches, nonprofit organizations are finding Michael Mancuso and his e-waste recycling days are boosting their bank accounts and profiles.
Since 2005, Mancuso, owner of three Cartridge World stores and Office Recycling Solutions, has held about 66 recycling events. Combined, they have hauled in about 250 tons of e-waste, boxes upon boxes of confidential documents and more than $50,000 for more than a dozen local nonprofits.
“When else can you help the local economy, help the local environment … and meet a need?” Mancuso said. “People don’t know what to do with [e-waste].”
A recycling drop-off day at Save The Bay headquarters in Providence in 2008 proved so successful that the environmental organization was forced to move it to a larger venue in West Warwick last year. Save The Bay spokesman John Martin said the events proved valuable in raising the profile of the organization while at the same time complementing its environmental mission.
The profit from last year’s event – a few thousand dollars – was nominal compared to the organization’s budget, Martin said. But the free advertising was priceless and left people feeling good about participating, much like the high volunteers feel after meeting a goal to harvest so much eelgrass.
Martin said properly disposing of e-waste such as televisions, computers and printers stops untold tons of mercury and other hazardous chemicals from entering the state’s groundwater and eventually reaching Narragansett Bay. The events also send hundreds of pounds of paper to be recycled, thanks to Mancuso partnering with Affordable Shredding of Richmond.
Affordable Shredding owner Jeffrey Gardiner estimates he participated in at least a dozen such events last year.
“We’ve been everywhere: Jamestown, Worcester, all over the place,” Gardiner said. “It gets your name out there … and it helps the community.”
The concept started as a much more humble idea. When Mancuso opened a Cartridge World franchise in South County Commons in South Kingstown, he was looking for a way to collect used printer cartridges while marketing his business. First he partnered with schools, offering to pay them for the cartridges they collected and provided to Cartridge World. The program took off. At the same time, Mancuso was visiting local offices in an attempt to drum up business.
“When we were going to new businesses I would see electronic waste in offices, on the floor and in piles and nobody knew what to do with it,” Mancuso said.
So Mancuso married the cartridge recycling and e-waste disposal ideas. At first he partnered with another company to haul away the waste before realizing he could dispose of it himself. Then he brought on board Affordable Shredding and before he knew it organizations started creating events around the collection days.
Save The Bay’s collection day included live music, free bumper stickers and snacks. Last fall the South Kingstown Chamber of Commerce held a collection day that generated about $250 for the organization, said Executive Director Joe Iacoi. This year it plans to expand the day and include free coffee. Iacoi said the days help promote the Chamber and he uses the proceeds to cover postage costs.
“It was kind of nice, a win-win: get rid of your electronic waste and give back to your community,” Iacoi said. •
