By Mary Murphy, The Gazette
A $50,000 grant from Mitsubishi Electric American Foundation will help the nonprofit Blue Star Recyclers, which employs disabled adults to recycle electronics that would otherwise end up in landfills, expand nationwide.
Colorado Springs-based Blue Star, which , hopes to start with two new cities next year, pondering locations in Austin, Texas; Richmond, Va.; Salt Lake City, and Lincoln and Omaha, Neb. Mitsubishi also wants Blue Star to consider 10 other cities where the Japanese giant operates manufacturing plants.
Blue Star also is looking at expanding to Aspen and later to Fort Collins and the rest of the Front Range.
Blue Star will select the first two new cities based on volume of electronic waste generated in the cities and whether it receives financial support from the cities, co-founder and CEO Bill Morris said. The grant money will be used to research locations, build relationships in selected cities and eventually build facilities.
“The simplicity of this company is electronic waste; every city has it — cities need an ethical solution,” Morris said. “The other element is having people with disabilities who want to work; less than 20 percent of people with disabilities are employed. Also, less than 20 percent of electronic waste is recycled — we are trying to address both things.”
Morris said the. “In a new city, our job is to get the community involved (and reach) that level of volume.”
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