Gregg Keesling – Cleaning Up Our Environment

Greetings!

At ReycleForce, we talk a lot about what it takes for a formally incarcerated individual to reenter society; the importance of having a good paying job; and the effort it takes to not return to past behaviors. We are so focused on supporting our employees that we sometimes neglect to tell you what our organization is also doing through the very labor of those we are helping to reenter society – cleaning up our environment.

Last year, our employees recycled over 9 million pounds of toxic electronic waste.  What do we mean by toxic? Nearly all electronics contain various levels of heavy metals such as mercury and lithium. A single device doesn’t contain enough toxic material to be dangerous, but when millions of electronic devices end up in our landfills or burned for waste-to-energy they create problems for our environment and health.

Steel is the primary recyclable item we return to the manufacturing stream.  85% of all the steel made in Indiana is manufactured from recycled steel. 

Perhaps as important, our recycling efforts help to reduce the need to mine for more metals or drill for more oil.  Thanks to our recycling efforts, we are helping to reduce the amount of lead, mercury, and cadmium along with a number of other dangerous chemicals from entering our waterways, soil and air. Instead, these toxic chemicals are captured through our state approved recycling processes and disposed of or recycled safely.