ALPHARETTA, GA.—The Refinishing Touch, a specialist in environmentally safe and sustainable on-site furniture refinishing, upholstery and armoire modifications, has launched a government-approved television recycling program that will reduce the amount of electronic waste created by its customer organizations during furniture remodeling projects.
The Refinishing Touch has experience gained from working with some of the largest organizations in the country, from hotel chains such as Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Marriott, Wyndham and Starwood to government organizations such as The White House, U.S. Congress, Department of Defense, U.S. military forces, and the U.S. Coastguard.
In recent years, several hotel chains have commissioned The Refinishing Touch for large-scale modification of armoires in order to accommodate modern flat screen televisions, the inspiration for this new initiative.
The Refinishing Touch’s new program will recycle older television sets that are replaced during such renovation projects. A 2007 study by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) found that more than 3 million tons of electronic waste is generated in the United States each year with 86.4 percent ending up in landfills and only 13.6 percent being recycled. TVs and computers are especially difficult to recycle, because they contain toxic materials such as brominated flame retardants.
In Compliance with Government Standards
To help combat this problem, The Refinishing Touch will ensure that TVs are recycled in compliance with Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and EPA industry standards as well as all applicable local, state and federal laws and regulations. In keeping with its environmentally friendly refinishing practices, it has also applied for a no-landfill certification as a further guarantee that customers’ TVs won’t end up in the trash.
The new program is already under way at two locations in Virginia for a global hotel chain with hotels in Alexandria, Va., and Williamsburg, Va. Combined, the two locations require the modification of more than 330 armoires. The Refinishing Touch has removed and recycled all of the existing TVs that were being replaced by flatscreen televisions.
“The Refinishing Touch is committed to help organizations decrease their carbon footprints and to utilize environmentally sound practices,” says Mario Insenga, CEO of The Refinishing Touch. “We noticed that clients were often throwing their old TVs into the trash just because of the hassle involved with recycling them. But we wanted to add more value and it was a natural extension to start a program to recycle our clients’ old TVs as an integral part of our refinishing program so they no longer have to worry about disposing of them. Many states have laws preventing electronic waste from being sent to landfills, so our program helps clients to comply with local legislation as well as observe environmental good practice.”
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