Joco, WALTER launch e-mobility recycling program in NYC

The companies have partnered to recycle e-bike parts and batteries in Brooklyn.

group of people standing in front of recycling bins
The WALTER team.
Photo courtesy of WALTER

Joco, an e-mobility platform serving New York, and WALTER (Working And Learning Together Environmental Recycling), a Brooklyn-based recycling organization, have partnered to launch NYC’s first e-mobility waste recycling program.

The first-of-its-kind program will provide safe, proper disposal of e-bike parts and batteries in Brooklyn, operating across Joco’s warehouse and fleet facilities throughout NYC while generating workforce development opportunities in underserved neighborhoods.

“Above all else, we believe in a clean future for our city, where everyone has a chance at employment,” says Guillaume Charvon, founder of WALTER, who spent more than twenty years working with marginalized youth people across France, Burkina Faso and the U.S.

WALTER services Joco facilities twice per week, collecting and processing a variety of waste streams, including cardboard, metals, aluminum, plastics, wood and batteries.

In less than six months of collaboration, Joco and WALTER have recycled 23,815 pounds of material from Joco operations, avoided 168,603 pounds of CO₂ emissions and accumulated 768 paid employment hours for marginalized youth in NYC.

According to the companies, this is the environmental equivalent of 3,066 trees planted (44 acres of forest), 197,066 miles not driven (912 trips from NYC to Boston) and 8,605 gallons of fuel saved (84,280 pounds of coal avoided).

“The promise of e-mobility as a positive force only works when the system is sustainable across its full lifecycle and provides equitable access to opportunity for the communities and workers who power this industry,” Jonathan Cohen, co-founder of Joco, says.