Former Best Buy exec launches e-waste disposal website for companies

NEW YORK (Scrap Monster): Leo Raudys, a former environmental regulator and Best Buy Co. Inc. executive, has launched a website to help companies get rid of their old computers and other electronics.

His website, Riduvit.com, connects companies with preselected e-waste vendors who compete for the business of wiping clean and recycling old computers, monitors, servers, TVs, mobile devices and point-of-sale systems. 

It's essentially a shopping site, along the lines of Cars.com; it's free to use, but Raudys receives a commission for every sale.

He's currently working with two e-waste recyclers: Fresno, Calif.-based Electronic Recyclers International Inc. and Twinsburgh, Ohio-based Regency Technologies. He worked with both while at Best Buy, and has met with the companies' owners, visited their facilities and vetted their third-party certifications.

"I talk to companies and you hear the same themes over and over again: 'I don't understand where the stuff goes, I don't understand what these certifications mean and I think I'm getting hosed on price. There has to be an easier way,' " said Raudys, who also works as a risk management and sustainability consultant.

Companies are increasingly concerned about electronics recycling, though many still resort to an Internet search or cumbersome request for proposals process to find providers, Raudys said.

"If you're a business looking to get rid of the stuff responsibly and cost effectively, it's really, really hard to do," he said. "The reality is that in electronics recycling, like a lot of places, there are good actors out there, there are bad actors and there are a whole bunch in between. And when you think of the data-security risks and environmental risks associated with IT equipment and electronics, there is very little margin for error."

Raudys previously spent roughly 18 years as a state regulator, rising to the rank of deputy commissioner and chief operations officer for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. Then he went to Richfield-based Best Buy, where he served as senior director of environmental sustainability, a role in which he oversaw the company's retail consumer-electronics recycling program.

Courtesy: www.bizjournals.com