Total Reclaim appoints CEO

Bob Farris, formerly of TerraCycle, joins the electronics recycling firm.

Bobby Farris takes the helm at Total Reclaim.
Bobby Farris takes the helm at Total Reclaim.

Seattle-based Total Reclaim, a recycler of regulated scrap materials, has announced the appointment of Bobby Farris as CEO. Total Reclaim was founded in 1991 to provide recycling solutions for regulated scrap materials, such as refrigerants, light bulbs, computers and batteries.

Farris comes to Total Reclaim from TerraCycle, a company with a mission to eliminate waste by recycling “hard-to-recycle” materials, where he served as general manager. Farris led its division that collects and recycles regulated end-of-life materials, such as lighting, batteries and electronics.

He has more than 20 years of executive level experience in the appliance, lightbulb and electronics recycling industry. Farris will use his background in sales and operations management to grow Total Reclaim, the company states in a news release announcing his appointment.

Prior to TerraCycle, Farris served as vice president of business development for JACO Environmental, the country’s largest appliance recycling company. For nine years, he also served as director of electronics recycling services at Waste Management Inc., the country’s largest waste hauler, where he oversaw development and implementation of the company’s environmental management standards for its electronics recycling operations and spearheaded its expansion of electronics recycling services into nationwide product stewardship markets.

“Total Reclaim has led the industry in recycling regulated waste items for almost 30 years, and I’m committed to building upon that legacy,” Farris says. “We have a great team in place at Total Reclaim. My mission is to leverage my experience to lead Total Reclaim into a future that provides material reclamation services in a sustainable, accountable and transparent way.”

Total Reclaim owners Craig Lorch and Jeff Zirkle say they selected Farris as CEO and have already transitioned all company operations over to him.

“We are very excited to have Bobby as our new CEO,” Lorch says. “He is the right person to help the company evolve and grow. He will spearhead our accountability and oversight efforts and bring an increased focus on strategic partnerships and operational transparency that will lead Total Reclaim into the future.”

Total Reclaim was founded in Seattle in 1991 to help industry and government agencies legally recycle refrigerators and HVAC equipment in accordance with the requirements of the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act.

The company’s owners, who previously served as its chief executive officers, were sentenced to 28 months in prison in the spring of this year after pleading guilty to federal charges related to exporting LCD devices to Hong Kong. Their prison time is to be followed by three years of supervised release, according to a Department of Justice news release.

Total Reclaim was the biggest participant in E-Cycle Washington, a program created by the Washington state legislature to provide for the safe recycling of hazardous electronic products. Under E-Cycle Washington, consumers drop off used electronics at stations such as Goodwill Industries free of charge.  The program then paid Total Reclaim to recycle the electronics according to Washington Department of Ecology standards. Those standards bar recyclers from sending hazardous electronics products overseas.