In November of 2001, Reclamere, a premiere computer recycling and brokering company opened its offices in downtown Tyrone.
Since then the company has grown under the leadership of president Robert Dornich, vice president of sales and marketing Joseph P. Harford and vice president of technology and logistics Angie Singer Keating.
“Reclamere is a computer recycler and brokering company. What that means is we go out to organizations that are in health care, banking and education, and we say the following, we know everybody has a bunch of computer equipment and some of them know what to do with it and some don’t. Some of them have been throwing it out for years. Some of them give it away. We say that we can solve that problem for you, so we’ll go into an organization, and we may buy the equipment back from them. We may remove it at no cost, or charge them a recycling fee.”
Harford said that throwing away this type of computer equipment is not an option for health care, banking and education organizations because of environmental protection issues.
“For instance the computer monitor has five to eight pounds of lead in the glass, and lead is characterized as a hazardous waste,” said Harford. “Now imagine taking that material, putting it into a land fill and then it leaches into the water supply and then your kids drink that water. That’s a big issue. The whole realm of electronic equipment in this country deals with issues like lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic and so on.”
Legislation has been passed for environmental liability. According to a Reclamere pamphlet, The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976, amended in 1984, addresses the management of hazardous waste and keeping that material from entering a landfill. Computer monitors contain a high level of lead which is categorized as hazardous waste.
“The other thing we say to companies which is probably more important to them than the environmental side is privacy and confidentiality,” said Harford. “There are currently federal and state laws across the United States that make it an organization’s responsibility to make sure that your social security number, your date of birth, your health records, your credit card numbers, etc. aren’t just simply given away to folks. Could you imagine if you were to take a look at somebody who was able to get your social security number and your date of birth, they could essentially steal your identity.”
Reclamere can securely destroy data on the hard drives of the computers, which is called Certified Digital Data Destruction. Reclamere’s data destruction services follow the standards of the U. S. Department of Defense.
This is important to companies and organizations that face privacy and confidentiality restrictions and penalties. The Graham-Leach-Bliley Act regulates how personal information about individuals is shared by financial institutions, and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 addresses the national standards for electronic health care transactions, health plans, and employers. It also addresses the security and privacy of medical data.
When the computer equipment makes its ways back to Reclamere in Tyrone, members of the staff look at the age, condition and volume of the equipment. The staff then tries to recondition or refurbish as much of the equipment as possible. Since last year, Reclamere has been exporting refurbished computers throughout the world.
Last week a retail outlet for computers was opened at the offices at Reclamere, and the company still offers a community recycling day where individuals can pay a fee to have their electronic equipment recycled, every Wednesday from 3 – 6 p.m. Staff members can also repair equipment, install software and help to purchase new equipment. The hours of operation are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, and the phone number is 684-5505.
Harford would like to thank members of the Tyrone community for their support, including Jeff Long, Mayor Pat Stoner, Harry Sickler, Ed Silvetti from Southern Alleghenies Planning and Development Commission, John Parsch from First Commonwealth Bank and Congressman Bill Shuster.
Harford stressed that 350,000,000 computers will become obsolete in the United States by next year.
“Taking the equipment and throwing it in the trash is environmentally irresponsible. It does in fact contain hazardous material. Hazardous material should not be going into a landfill. Over time the lack of awareness or irresponsibility is going to have a negative impact on the water supply that they drink,” said Harford. “It’s a huge problem being addressed at the federal, state and local levels, and what of is trying to do is position ourselves in the state and country as a premiere provider of computer recycling and computer brokering services.”
