Freedom Electronics Recycling, Inc

Our mission is to provide comprehensive, secure, and environmentally responsible e-waste recycling solutions to businesses, government agencies, non-profit organizations and the general public.
Using a 'Best Practices' approach to obsolete electronics management, our comprehensive program offers:

• A no landfill/no export/no prison labor use policy
• A 'beyond compliance' strategy with applicable local, state and federal environmental, health and safety regulations
• Glass-to-glass monitor recycling
• 100% component destruction
• Optional revenue sharing on resold components
• Soft media destruction
• A 20,000 sf secure facility
• Desktop to dock door logistics support

Our Services

Freedom offers a wide variety of specialized services.  We work with our clients to craft a program to meet their specific needs.  

Recycling
Freedom offers complete recycling services for electronic equipment. All equipment is demanufactured (disassembled) in our Hagerstown, Maryland facility and separated into major commodity categories such as steel, aluminum, plastic, copper, glass for material recovery and reuse. Batteries and other hazards are removed during the demanufacturing process and sent to appropriate recovery facilities.
Revenue Sharing
Freedom recognizes that some assets sent to our facility will have resale potential. It is our policy to remarket these assets when contract terms permit and it makes economic sense to do so. The revenue from the sale of equipment is shared with the client on a percentage basis.
Destruction Services
Some companies require the complete destruction of their equipment. Freedom's Destruction Services ensures that all equipment is completely destroyed and will not re-enter the marketplace in any shape or form.
Asset tracking
Freedom can track your assets for you and provide you with lists of items received at our facility. This can be done using serial number and/or asset tag numbers depending on the client requirements.
Logistics Services
Freedom offers the most comprehensive logistics service in the region including LTL pickups, tractor trailer loads, and customized 'desktop-to-dock' assistance.

Why Recycle Electronic Equipment?

Dealing with the disposal of electronic equipment is a confusing issue for many organizations.  What are your options and legal obligations?  What are the consequences?

Environmental Regulations

Electronic equipment contains materials known to be hazardous and a threat to the environment if not managed properly. The proper management of such material is regulated under RCRA (Resource Conservation and Recovery Act) and subsequent Amendments. Regulated material includes many of the heavy metals found in CRTs, circuit boards, and batteries.Businesses and others are obligated to recognize such regulated material and to properly manage them. While enforcement action may vary from one jurisdiction to another, it is becoming increasingly evident that an organization will be held liable under RCRA provisions and other statutes, such as the Clean Water Act (CWA) for the improper management of electronic equipment.

The Hazards

Discarded electronic equipment contains a variety of toxic materials/pollutants including one or more of the following: lead, mercury, selenium, cadmium, arsenic, zinc, brominated flame retardants, and, in older equipment, polychlorinated byphenyls (PCBs). Cathode ray tubes (CRT's) found in computer monitors contain about 4 pounds of lead.
Data Control
Perhaps most importantly, your electronic equipment probably contains private or sensitive data that you need to protect! Hard drives need to be properly managed, along with other data storage mechanisms you may not even recognize. Resale, donation and employee giveaway programs do not necessarily protect businesses from losing control of proprietary information. Freedom will ensure that your equipment is properly handled and recycled and that your data is completely destroyed.

Choosing a Recycler

Currently, in the majority of the states, there are no licenses or certifications that need to be obtained in order to become an 'electronics recycler'. Anyone can hang out a shingle, put up a website and claim to be a company that recycles electronic equipment. Consequently, there are a wide variety of service providers out there employing many different methods for managing electronic equipment.So how does one select the 'right' company? First, know the right questions to ask. Is the company a reseller or a recycler or both and what is the difference?
Resellers are generally interested in your 'good' stuff. This translates to equipment they can take in and resell without too much effort. They will even offer to take your equipment for 'free' and tell you that they will handle all of it. Resellers do not get too involved with the 'recycling' part of the process. Responsible recycling costs money so a typical reseller will normally look for a cheap (read unsafe) way to get rid of whatever they can't resell; and there is always equipment that doesn't sell.Responsible recyclers focus on managing the true 'end-of-life' for electronics. Similar to a reseller, a responsible recycler will often resell equipment. They will also have your best interests at heart for managing the equipment which did not sell. Recyclers -- good recyclers -- are going to charge you a fee for this expertise and protection.

A responsible recycler should meet minimum criteria for handling your equipment. The following basic questions should always be asked:

• Are they examining the equipment for batteries and other hazardous items and removing such items during the process? (All computers contain a battery, by the way!)
• Are the hazardous materials being appropriately managed?
• Are they removing all asset tags before reselling the equipment?
• Do they have their own monitor recycling process or is it outsourced?
• If they have outsourced their monitor recycling, is it with an appropriate facility?
• How are they handling your hard drives and the data on them?
• Do they have an appropriate hard drive wiping program that overwrites all data?
• Do they have a documented environmental policy?
• What is being landfilled?
• What is being exported?
• Are they using prison labor?
• Does the company have adequate insurance coverage?

It is extremely important to be careful when selecting an electronics recycler. Ask lots of questions and if at all possible, visit the facility in person before making a decision.

Freedom Electronics Recycling, Inc. handles all types of electronic equipment including:

• Computers
• Monitors
• Printers
• Fax machines
• Copiers
• Scanners
• Projection equipment
• Plotters
• Peripherals
• Tape drives
• Network hardware
• Telecommunications equipment
• Phone systems
• Security equipment
• UPS Systems
• Cell phones
• VCRs
• and much more.