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| BDE Expands its eCycling Business |
Editor: Elliott, Bob
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Doug Chapman, executive director of Bridges to Digital Excellence (BDE), recalled its founding in 2003, with a Computer in the Home program to provide every child with a computer. After placing 2,700 computers with children in Benton Harbor, BDE transformed its business model to take advantage of all the donated electronics. It began an eThrift store to sell reusable items, and an eCycling business to recover steel, aluminum, silver and gold from items otherwise headed for landfills. eCycling is also a very successful jobs program, hiring former prisoners and putting other hard to employ people to work. The jobs are designed to be "transitional" - moving people into other jobs once they have developed job skills and demonstrated a reliable work ethic. One former prisoner moved up to assistant manager then on to another employer with a nice increase in pay. BDE opened a second recycling location in South Bend last fall and hopes to expand its Benton Harbor operations later this year.
The same wizards that refurbish computers and wipe data from hard drives provide low cost IT services to seventeen non-profits.
eCycling will take any item with a cord or a battery. Just drop items off at 153 W Main St. Benton Harbor. Need a laptop?, stop by the eThrift store at 155 W Main St for $99 laptops. PC accessories are also available, such as keyboards for $2.
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Rotary Club of Benton Harbor-Sunrise
