Cell phones, TVs, blenders: Unwanted electronics refurbished and sold at Whitesboro store
Which appeals to you more — buying a cheaper iPhone 11 or protecting the environment? A store in Whitesboro is trying to help customers do both.
eCaboose in Whitesboro fixes and refurbishes broken or unwanted electronics, instead of removing recyclable components and sending the rest to the landfill. It opened at 272 Oriskany Blvd. on Sept. 7, the second retail location opened by Sunnking, a Brockport-based company that opened its first store in 2005.
In the same Whitesboro building, Sunnking recycles electronics collected from EcoDrop locations in Utica and Rome as part of the Oneida-Herkimer Solid Waste Authority's free, year-round electronics recycling program.
Electronics recycling is a busy industry. Just the Waste Authority collected 452 tons of electronics for recycling last year, the authority’s Recycling Coordinator Eileen Brinck said. That included 770 computer monitors, 1,716 computer components and 8,877 televisions.
At the Whitesboro site, electronics from the Waste Authority are dumped onto a conveyor belt, where workers sort them based on what can be refurbished, recycled — plastic, copper, aluminum and scrap metal all get recycled — or sent to Brockport for shredding (the final death of electronics).
eCaboose sells refurbished items, makes repairs
In a smaller room off the retail store, technicians refurbish electronics for sale and make repairs for customers. They've replaced cracked cell phone screens, transferred data and, on a house call, fixed a broken refrigerator thermostat. The only task they weren’t able to complete recently was saving a television that had been struck by lightning, said Seve Kowalski, the store's product sales manager.
More:Sunnking celebrates opening of its recycling plant in Whitesboro
More:Earth Day collaboration turns Utica's trash into treasures
That hands-on support provides an extra peace of mind in buying re-furbished electronics locally, instead of online or from a chain, said Robert Burns, Sunnking’s director of marketing.
“You have that local place that you can bring it right back to and, in that location, they have somebody who can fix it right in front of you,” he said.
For sale at eCaboose are a number of refurbished electronics, including tablets, cell phones, laptops, desktop computers, TVs (smart and otherwise), coffee makers, air fryers, blenders, a sewing machine, CD/DVD players, speakers and mini LED projectors. A few of the products, brought in through contracts with retailers, are new, still in the factory-sealed packaging.
"You’re probably not going to get this year’s model,” Burns said, “but last year’s model, the year before that.”
What electronics are available at eCaboose
The savings vary based on the type of product, model and year. An iPhone 5S starts at $19.99, but an iPhone 11 with 64 GB of storage sells for $250. A stockpile of black laptop cases run for $9.99 a piece — a laptop purchase earns a free one — and the store has so many desktop towers in the center of the space customers can take their pick for $49.99. Most of the computers are from schools; workers shred the hard drives and replace them, Kowalski said.
Other items eCaboose has had for sale include:
A stack of Samsung Galaxy tablet Es from 2015 with 9.6 inch screens and 16 GB of storage for $19.99.
An Apple iPad Air 2 with a 9.7 inch screen and 64 GB for $119.99.
A new Crock Pot 3.5-quart slow cooker for $49.99.
Two Lexmark, free-standing black-and-white printers that also copy, scan and fax for $99.99.
A 65” LG Smart TV for $349.
A Kitchen Aid blender for $69.99, a NutriBullet Pro juice extractor for $29.99, Cuisinart coffee makers for $29.99 and Cuisinart air fryers for $39.99 (with a toaster oven).
This article originally appeared on Observer-Dispatch: eCaboose in Whitesboro recycles, refurbishes, sells electronics
