Total Reclaim CEO purchases the company

Total Reclaim Inc., a Kent, Washington-based company that recycles electronics and regulated end-of-life materials, has transitioned ownership.

Bobby Farris, the CEO of the company and its EcoLights NW LLC subsidiary since 2019, has acquired a majority interest in the company from previous owners, Craig Lorch and Jeffrey Zirkle. Farris has 25 years of experience in managing electronics recycling, appliance recycling and universal waste recycling companies, including TerraCycle's division that collects and recycles regulated end-of-life materials, such as lighting, batteries and electronics.

Lorch and Zirkle, no longer have any interest in the company.

Total Reclaim’s former owners, who previously served as its chief executive officers, were sentenced to 28 months in prison in the spring of 2019 after pleading guilty to federal charges related to exporting LCD devices to Hong Kong. Zirkle also was convicted and sentenced for tax fraud.

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.  

“When I agreed to join the company in 2019, my goal was to restore confidence in the Total Reclaim and EcoLights brands for our employees and our customers,” Farris says. “Thanks to the hard work and perseverance of our entire team, I feel that goal has been achieved and it is time to move the company forward independently and in an ownership capacity with complete separation from prior company management. I am excited about the future of the company, and I am eager to lead the team into a new phase of growth and prosperity.”

Total Reclaim provides recycling and reuse solutions for hard-to-handle materials such as consumer electronics, domestic and commercial appliances, HVAC units, refrigerant gases and batteries of all chemistries and types. The company also collects and recycles mercury-bearing fluorescent lamps through its subsidiary, EcoLights NW.