Kalama company to recycle electronic waste
Saturday, July 26, 2008 12:14 AM PDT
By Leila Summers
Printable version
E-mail this articleKALAMA — “E-waste.” Unless you are Bob Briehl, that term probably doesn’t mean a whole lot.
But it’s the basis for a new company Briehl is helping bring to Port of Kalama.
Quite simply, the term refers to recyclable scraps left over when electronic products are made.
Called EcoTech Recycling LLC, the Kalama-based company will import such scraps from around the world and sell them to recycling centers for electronic companies, said Briehl, the company’s chief operating officer.
“We’re focusing on semi-conductor manufacturers, companies that make the chips that go into computers and electronics such as cell phones, automobiles, laptops,” he said.
Briehl hopes to sign a lease and set up shop as early as next week. The company would move to half of the port’s newest 40,000-square-foot structure.
Briehl expects the company to employ six people at first, but he plans to bring on more than 20 employees once the business gets going. The company is owned by Renie Duvall from La Center.
Employees will be sorting and organizing materials as they arrive, Briehl said. Many recyclers look for specific types of metals, he said.
“We sort it, consolidate it and ship it out to various companies depending on their expertise,” he said. “Like for instance, if we receive pure gold targets that would go to one company, platinum might go to another company.”
All materials will be kept inside the building, which will have a high-tech security system. “It’s no scarp yard surrounded by fence,” he said. “It’s all behind locked doors.”
The company also consults with electronic companies on how to recover costs through recycling instead of tossing away their scraps.
Many electronic companies, he said, “leave a lot of dollars on the table.”
The port’s close proximity to Interstate 5 is what attracted Briehl to Kalama. He plans to truck out most materials to recycling centers.
Briehl also considered a space at the old Reynolds plant site west of the Weyerhaeuser mill, but that deal fell through, he said.
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