Protecting the Planet while Providing Jobs for People with Disabilities

Laura Turner Seydel, a national environmental activist and chairperson of the Captain Planet Foundation was keynote speaker at the Tommy Nobis Center’s (TNC) March 3 open house in Kennesaw, Ga.  TNC hosted the event to introduce Recycletronics…at Tommy Nobis Center, its new 150,000-sq-ft Electronics Recycling Facility to the business and consumer communities.

Companies and individuals may discard old TVs, PC components, laptops, phones or other electronics by donating them to Recycletronics…at Tommy Nobis Center. “TNC’s team has kept more than 6 million pounds of Ewaste out of landfills while creating 71 jobs for people with disabilities and other barriers to employment, all since its launch in June 2009,” said COO Mike Daniels.  “The program grew so quickly in its first year that we had to relocate to the larger facility in Kennesaw’s Cobb International Business Park.”

The team provides secure data destruction of information on hard drives using Department of Defense-approved software to wipe the drive clean, or shredding (three-stage destruction) so that all data is permanently removed and unrecoverable.  NIST Purge-Secure Erase also is provided, according to Daniels.  Customers include BB&T, WellStar Health System, Norfolk Southern Railway, U.S. Micro, Cobb County School District and many more.

Recycletronics…at Tommy Nobis Center is a social enterprise that provides electronics recycling jobs for people with disabilities & other barriers to employment, while protecting the planet & impacting our community’s economy.  In 2010 alone, the program’s economic impact to the community was $961,210 in taxes paid & reductions in public assistance such as Social Security, Medicaid and more.

(l-r) Keynote Speaker Laura Turner Seydel joins Tommy Nobis Center co-founders Tommy Nobis and Bobbie Knopf to celebrate the expansion of Recycletronics…at Tommy Nobis Center.

Cutting the “green” ribbon to celebrate the expansion of Recycletronics…at Tommy Nobis Center in Kennesaw, Ga. are (l-r) TNC co-founder Tommy Nobis of Atlanta, TNC president & CEO Connie Kirk of Marietta, TNC Board chairman Michael Crace of Kennesaw, TNC co-founder Bobbie Knopf of Atlanta, keynote speaker Laura Turner Seydel of Atlanta, Cobb County Commissioner JoAnn Birrell of East Cobb and  Recycletronics…at Tommy Nobis Center COO Mike Daniels of Young Harris.

Touring the Recycletronics…at Tommy Nobis Center facility in Kennesaw are (l-r) New Ventures CEO Dave Miller of LaGrange; Tommy Nobis Center president & CEO Connie Kirk of Marietta; and WellStar interim president & CEO Jim Budzinski of Marietta.