Innovation

Upcycle LLC is a recycling company that focuses on recycling or safely disposing of unwanted/old electronic products. Upcycle LLC is mainly known for recycling for schools, businesses, and places that have huge amounts of unwanted electronics. Upcycle LLC is considered to offer an innovative service and that is because they offer the recycling or proper disposal of any form of electronics.

Inspiration

Mark DeTroia is the CEO and founder of Upcycle. After not finding satisfaction in his 9-5 working on Wall Street, he decided to quit and follow a passion of his to make a difference in his life. It's so easy to get overwhelmed when starting a new business, but as Mark said, "It's easy to do the right thing." Taking things one step at a time like Mark did, allowed him to follow his passion for electronics to make a difference when it comes to recycling electronics and creating a cleaner and less polluted world.

Overall impact

The short-term effect of the business innovation is that it allows people to drop items off at a location where they can be recycled properly and given new life. People can make room in their storage space by not having to hold on to unwanted old goods. The long-term effects of Upcycle are that it makes the earth a cleaner space. It gives us the opportunity to reuse limited resources that are scarce and hard to find. The long-term effect has an impact on everyone and everything living on earth. If the business grows and more people began upcycling the world become a much cleaner place. It has a big impact on our ocean too which experiences large amounts of pollution. In America, we have piles of waste from the last several decades just sitting in landfills. A lot of that could have been upcycled which would have prevented harm to the environment.

Business benefit

The innovation of upcycling has had a huge impact on the business and made it the success it is today. It benefits the employees that work at the recycling center in Fairfield by providing them with jobs and opportunities. It also benefits the people utilizing the service by offering a convenient and eco-friendly way of disposing of unwanted recyclable goods. Due to the business offering this new innovative service the business has been able to grow and help more people be employed. “So far, nine full and part-time jobs have been created and eleven negative spaces have been transformed into productive ones. A portion of our profits is used to pay the annual school fees of ten poor children in our community. Dozens of men have come through our upcycling program and have gone on to become upstanding role models in their communities and society in general.“ This quote shows the benefits that Upcycle creates and what it does for the environment and the people seeking employment. Employees that work at Upcycle in Fairfield have said nothing but good things about their experience with the company. After an interview with one of the managers at Upcycle, it's safe to say that it's managed and run by very qualified and friendly people. One of our own group members can vouch for this as he previously worked at Upcycle and recalls his experience there as nothing but great.

Social and environmental benefit

The Innovation Upcycle is truly amazing and has many benefits to the environment and to the Society. It is extremely beneficial to society by giving people the opportunity to be more eco-friendly while also providing the convenience of being able to get unneeded recyclable goods out of your house. If you take your old electronic Goods to Upcycle for recycling they will completely take your hard drive out and wipe it and then put it through the process of upcycling. This gives the people in our society the reassurance that no information from their old technological goods will be stolen and used against them. Upcycle is also great for the environment because it reduces waste by a tremendous amount. It also helps our ocean by keeping waste outside of the water and also gives us clean air to breathe by not producing chemical waste through gas and releasing it into our atmosphere. “We “Pay It Forward” through our equipment donation programs and by supporting our communities.” Upcycle takes part of its annual profits and donates it to support surrounding communities.

Interview

Mark DeTroia, President