Electronic Recyclers International (ERI), Fresno, Calif., has announced plans to open a new electronics recycling facility at Alcoa’s former aluminum smelting plant in Badin, N.C. Alcoa purchased a minority stake in Electronic Recyclers in March 2011
According to a report in the Winston-Salem Journal, ERI would be the inaugural tenant in Badin Business Park in Badin, N.C.
According to the article, Alcoa has pledged $5 million to improve the 165,000-square-foot building, matching ERI’s investment in proprietary technology and equipment.
At the time of the annoucement in late May, John Shegerian, ERI chairman, said: "The enormous influx of new technologies, rendering older devices obsolete, as well as the demand for the safe and secure disposal of data, has created incredible growth in the electronic-waste industry. We're a good, profitable standalone business, and we look forward to establishing a significant, long-term operation in Badin."
Shegerian recently spoke to Recycling Today Editorial Director and Associate Publisher Brian Taylor about the recent property acquisition.
Recycling Today: Is ERI’s new North Carolina space within a working smelter or a former smelter site?
John Shegerian: We started the investment discussion in March or April of 2010. We were at the point of closing and financing, and somewhere in December, Kevin Anton called me up and asked if we looked at locations in the Southeast, would we consider Baden, N.C. I had to Google it and then arranged a New Year’s trip there instead of New York City.
I flew into Charlotte and checked it out. I looked at the property and the surrounding area. Alcoa [representatives] walked the property with us, and I said, "This is a heck of an opportunity to recycle this facility and to get favorable lease terms and logistics." The plant had been successful for Alcoa for several decades. Why couldn’t we recycle this facility to be good for us also? We met with the governor of North Carolina (Bev Perdue) in early 2011 to determine whether the community and the political community wanted us. The governor was very encouraging, and all the people there were.
We’re opening temporarily there this summer, and the shredder and other equipment will be ready sometime in the late first quarter of 2012.
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