Written by Julie Brown

End products from the recycling process at GEEP include copper.

Separated computer parts are stored at Global Electric Electronic Processing in Redford. For a fee, the firm welcomes residents to drop off electronics 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. There's a list on the website of what's accepted.

“People are starting to become aware and educated about the importance of recycling,” said Verkeyn, Business Development executive for the new location at 12237 Beech Daly (next to the post office) in Redford.

GEEP, headquartered in Barrie, Ontario, provides electronic waste recycling. The Michigan facility had been in Warren the past several years, but the move was made to Redford to accommodate business customers in an area ranging from Taylor to Ann Arbor.

“We just moved here about two weeks ago,” Ferndale resident Verkeyn said. “We needed a larger location.”

The Redford site, north of Plymouth Road, has some 50,000 square feet. E-waste services are much in need with technology advancing, Verkeyn said: “We’re very happy to be here. A couple of local people stopped by to welcome us.”

Of interest to local people, you can drop off old electronics beginning this week from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. There’s a list of accepted items on the website www.geepmichigan.com. For more, call (877) GEEP-4-YU (433-7498). A fee is charged.

Douglas Verkeyn, Business Development executive, is glad to be located in Redford, next to the post office. Global Electric Electronic Processing is based in Barrie, Ontario, and just moved its Michigan facility from Warren to Redford.

Examples of e-waste include desktop computers, laptops, monitors, printers, keyboards, mice, phones, VDRs, PDAs and televisions.

GEEP also has operations in Canada in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Montreal and Vancouver. In the U.S., it’s currently in Texas and North Carolina in addition to Michigan, although Verkeyn noted company plans to expand in the U.S., beginning with California. GEEP began with just a few employees in Barrie in 1984.

GEEP also has a partnership with Fortech in Costa Rica and operates in southern Germany as well.

“We currently have 12 (Redford employees) and we’re hoping to grow,” Verkeyn said. The privately held company will need varied skills, including information technology.

Mike Kay is general manager for the Redford site, which serves the Midwest, including such states as Kentucky and Tennessee as well as closer.

“We’re excited,” Verkeyn said. “We’re happy to be here. Hopefully with people dropping off their mail at the post office, they can also drop off their e-waste.”

GEEP has proprietary software, EBAN, used to sanitize hard drives for business customers. Being delivered to Redford is a roughly 6-foot by 10-foot shredder for hard drives.

For business customers, the data wiping is done to Department of Defense standards, Verkeyn said. Shredding is also effective and a bit less expensive.

“It gives customers an option,” he said.

In the Redford conference room, there are small jars of circuit board pieces, copper, aluminum and mixed plastic. GEEP breaks down materials into those at Barrie and North Carolina facilities and sells them for reuse.

“It makes it easy when you have a passion for recycling,” said Verkeyn, dad to two daughters ages 8 and 5 and a recycler at home. “We want a cleaner, safer environment for the future generations.”

E-waste is a source of environmental toxins, with an average of six to eight pounds of lead in a CRT monitor. Exposure can cause brain damage, blood disorders and kidney damage, so GEEP officials are careful about environmental standards and disposal.

Verkeyn earned a bachelor’s degree with a finance major from Wayne State University and has been with GEEP about five years. “Just with technology, e-waste is the fastest growing waste stream in our nation,” he said.

The Redford site has five bays for trucks to deliver e-waste, a scale for weighing and an area for sorting and demanufacturing. Ink and toner cartridges are removed and recycled.

“We try to sort everything by like equipment.” Verkeyn said of the EBAN technology which can process up to 200 machines at a time.

“Security is of the utmost importance to us and our customers,” he said of the fenced-in work area and numerous cameras.

Verkeyn describes the “closed loop” recycling. “We don’t outsource. We do it ourselves. Everything’s being done responsibly. That’s very important to us.”

Article Link: http://www.hometownlife.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2011104210629

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GEEP — that’s Global Electric and Electronics Processing — Michigan is located in a 23,000-square-foot facility in Warren and employs nine. But the company is actively looking for at least 80,000 square feet of space in the Metro Detroit area, which means there will be hiring as well.

Doug Verkeyn, sales account manager for the company, attributes GEEP’s growth to the company’s closed-loop system, which means clients get a complete range of secure, environmentally sound recycling and asset management services — from analysis to software data-wiping to refurbishment to shredding and recycling.

The company has seven locations in the United States and Canada, with the Michigan location serving the Midwest region. Currently, GEEP Michigan can offer all of the company’s services in-house but one: shredding and recycling. GEEP’s Barrie, Ontario facility handles that.

For now.

Once a larger facility is secured, this final piece of the loop can be offered, along with GEEP’s other services, in one Southeast Michigan location.

In the meantime, the company is making do by ensuring that client needs are still taken care of at a GEEP facility, which ensures adherence to a high standard of quality. Verkeyn says that the toxins and solid waste tonnage that GEEP’s process keeps out landfills is important to the company. “Marching towards a safer and cleaner environment for our future generations, that’s the main goal.”

Contact GEEP at 877-GEEP4YU or via their website, www.geepmichigan.com.

Source: Doug Verkeyn, GEEP Michigan
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Article Link:

http://www.metromodemedia.com/innovationnews/GSgeep041510.aspx

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Bill Gurn – Chair
Manager, Facility Maintenance
Haworth, Inc.
One Haworth Center, Holland, MI 49423
Phone: 616-393-1215
Fax: 616-393-3076
bill.gurn@haworth.com

Lori Miller – Vice Chair
Assistant Recycling Coordinator
City of Lansing, Waste Reduction Services
601 E. South Street
Lansing, MI  48910
Phone: 517-483-4599
Fax:  517-377-0176
lmiller@lansingmi.gov

Amy Shindorf – Treasurer
Resource Recovery Director
Isabella County
4208 E River Rd, Mount Pleasant, MI 48858   
Phone: 989-773-9631
Fax: 989-773-0835
ashindorf@isabellacounty.org

Lucy Doroshko – Secretary
MI Dept. of Energy, Labor & Econ Growth
611 W Pttawa St., 4th Fl, PO Box 30221
Lansing, MI  48909
Phone:  517-373-1322
Fax:  517-241-0858
doroshkol@michigan.gov

Cara Clore
Waste Management Coordinator
Clinton Co. Dept. of Waste Management
100 E State St., Suite 1300
St. Johns, MI  48879
Phone:  989-224-5187
Fax: 989-224-5102
clorec@clinton-county.org

Mike Csapo
General Manager
RRRASOC
20000 West 8 Mile Rd.
Southfiled, MI  48075
Phone:  248-208-2270
Fax:  248-208-2273
mcsapo@rrrasoc.org

W. Lee Hammond
President, Bata Plastics, Inc
1001 40th Street, S.E.
Grand Rapids, MI  49508
Phone:  616-452-5300
Fax:  616-452-5301
leehammond@bataplastics.com

Jack Iwema
General Manager
GEEP Michigan
27250 Gloede St.
Warren, MI  48088
Phone:  586-447-3056
Fax:  586-447-3056
jiwema@geepmichigan.com

http://www.michiganrecycles.org/board.html    

Linda McFarland
President & CEO, Classic Computer Recovery, Inc.
32400 Ford Road
Garden City, MI  48135
Phone:  734-293-5857
Fax:  734-293-5858
lindam@classiccomputerrecovery.com

Kate Neese
Recycling Coordinator
Tuscola County Recycling Facility
1123 Mertz Rd. (M-24)
Caro, MI  48723
Phone:  989-672-1673
Fax:  989-672-3868
recycle@tuscolacounty.org

Patty O’Donnell
Regional Planner
NWMCOG
PO Box 506
Traverse City, MI  49685
Phone:  231-929-5039
Fax:  231-929-5012
pattyodonnel@nwm.cog.mi.us

Don Pyle
Manager
Delta Solid Waste Management Authority
P.O. Box 198, 5701 19th Ave. N.
Escanaba, MI 48929
Phone: 906-786-9056
Fax: 906-786-0825
dswma1@hughes.net

Esther Seaver
Director, Programs & Operations
Midland Volunteers for Recycling
4305 Ashman
Midland, MI 48642
Phone: 989-631-1668
Fax: 989-631-3025
midvolrec@yahoo.com

Mark Steadman
Recycling Specialist
Greenstar
21110 Trolley Industrial Dr.
Taylor, MI  48180
Phone:  248-200-8882
Fax:  248-786-6853
mark.steadman@greenstar-na.com

Mary Jo Van Natter
Great Lakes Recycling
30615 Groesbeck Hwy.
Roseville, MI  48066
Phone: 586-779-1310 x840
Fax: 586-773-9128
Cell: 586-945-2020
maryjo@go-glr.com

Kerrin O’Brien
MRC Executive Director
Michigan Recycling Coalition
PO Box 10070
Lansing, MI  48901
Phone:  517-974-3672
kerrinmrc@gmail.com

Updated June 15, 2009

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