The saying goes, “Good things come to those who wait.” For RecycleForce, a two-year wait is almost over as we look forward to finishing moving into our newly constructed forever home at 816 N. Sherman Drive. We’ll be moving into our new 126,000-square-foot facility in October, and we can’t wait to see how this expands and improves our electronics recycling and life-changing program.
- The new, larger facility will allow us to have our full complement of recycling equipment setup
- Our large capacity shredder
- T-Tech optical sorter
- Multiple high-capacity balers
- Styrofoam compactors
- A far larger sorting and focus area
What does this mean for our program? It means we’ll be able to do more with the material that’s recycled – and the formerly incarcerated people who participate in our training program.
In 2022, RecycleForce achieved a 97.1% recycling rate. That means that for every 100 pounds of e-waste your organization had us collect, more than 97 pounds were recycled and repurposed into the circular economy. Only 3% of the leftover materials had to be sent to the landfill last year. In our new facility, we hope to improve on that number with the addition of our optical sorting machine, which will allow us to separate steel, copper and plastic from each other after being shredded.
But this new facility will not just allow us to be better stewards of the environment, it will allow us to serve up to 700 returning citizens a year. We have made room for a larger training department, coupled with providers having offices on-site who can help us meet the needs of these individuals before they grow into larger problems. The re-entry challenge is a complex and multilayered one. No one organization has it figured out, so having the opportunity to bring in multiple professionals and organizations who work with this segment of our population is essential.
Justice-impacted individuals are the LARGEST group in America today that still struggle with unemployment. Help-wanted signs are still EVERYWHERE, however unemployment rates in this group hover between 20-30%. Giving these men and women the skills, certifications and confidence to re-enter the workforce and become productive members of society is essential to their lives and to the well-being of the greater community.
With current grant awards, RecycleForce expects to serve more than 600 returning citizens in the Indianapolis area over the next 24-36 months. But we need your continued support. Send us your old and obsolete products. We’ll recycle those materials and provide important training and guidance to the employees who work within the organization. Remember, if it has a cord, we can probably recycle it. Email Daniel Rowe at drowe@recycleforce.org and we can get you on the schedule today.
If you would like to contribute to our capital campaign, you can make a donation here.