Local business feature - The Electronic Recycling Association
The Electronic Recycling Association (ERA) is a non-profit organization that works with local companies to repurpose used electronics. Their goal is to reduce electronic waste and provide reliable tech options for organizations on a budget.
They accept donations of used or unwanted electronics from organizations and Calgarians alike. The ERA then recycles, repairs and repurposes these electronics.
Tibor Szèkely, ERA Manager, notes that if donated electronics can be refurbished, they’ll either be donated or sold at significant discount: “A lot of the electronics that we’re reselling are for great, budget prices – so people that couldn’t afford a new laptop or an expensive laptop or an expensive server – they have an entry point now.”
As electronic waste (which can often feature toxic components) continues to be a concerning ecological topic, organizations like the ERA are finding clever ways to make treasure from perceived trash and protect the environment, to boot.
“A lot of these items, they contain heavy metals and toxic metals. So if they’re going in the ground it’s bad for the environment,” notes Tibor. “And a lot of them still work – and if they don’t work, we can refurbish them because we get so many parts and pieces.”
The ERA also offers pickup services for electronic donations, serialized reporting, physical data destruction and data wiping. “We basically work with any kind of electronics, that’s kind of what differentiates us from competition as well – we’ll pick up any kind of electronics,” says Benjamin Brunner, ERA’s General Manager. “We have a solution for almost anything.”
The ERA is located within walking distance of a future Green Line station in Highfield and should help Calgarians access their services more conveniently, as Tibor says: “People that are looking for budget items and are taking the train – they got quick access to us.”
Learn more about the Electronics Recycling Association.
Find more information on the Green Line project.
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