Williamson Inc. Cuts Ribbon on City eWaste Facility

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): Williamson County residents have a new place to take their old electronics after the opening of City eWaste at the county landfill in Franklin.

Members of Williamson Inc. cut the ribbon on the facility on Friday, June 13. Staff recycles old or broken electronics at no cost to county residents to avoid having devices dumped in landfills.

The company also operates four drop-off locations at waste convenience centers in Nolensville, Fairview, Thompson’s Station and Grassland. Only county residents can use those facilities, but City eWaste’s main location at 1209 Lakeview Drive in Franklin is open for anyone in or outside the county to use.

City eWaste accepts almost all kinds of consumer electronics, including smartphones, laptops, microwaves, wires, hard drives and routers. Staff refurbishes devices when possible, salvages any usable parts and recycles what cannot be refurbished or reused.

All devices are wiped of personal data before being processed. City eWaste does not accept copy machines, lightbulbs, batteries, smoke detectors, tube TVs or household trash.

Franklin resident Matthew Rogers founded the company, then called Franklin eWaste, in 2018. The city asked him to conduct its electronics and Batteries, Oil, Paint and Antifreeze, or BOPA, recycling program after the COVID pandemic forced the city facility to close in 2020.

City eWaste strives to reduce the amount of the approximately 6.9 million tons of consumer electronics discarded each year that end up in the garbage, Chief Operating Officer Erin Westrich said in a statement.

“With only 15% of eWaste currently being recycled nationwide, the remaining 85% — largely residential — has been filling our landfills,” she said. “We’re proving that cities across America don’t need massive budgets to solve the e-waste problem. They just need the right playbook, and we’re proud to be the ones writing it.”

The company also works with local governments and more than 300 businesses in Middle Tennessee to recycle e-waste on a municipal and commercial level. Its efforts have saved more than 10,000 tons of electronics from the landfill, Westrich said.

“We’re not just a recycling company,” she said. “We’re building a local solution to a global problem, and we’re just getting started.”

Courtesy: www.williamsonherald.com