E-Waste Systems has closed its Geneva, New York processing facility.
A significant backlog of CRTs and CRT glass is believed to be housed at the facility. The company is also being sued for failing to pay Geneva employees between mid-October and late January, according to an article in the Finger Lakes Times.
The Basel Action Network also released a report on the abrupt closure earlier this week.
EWSI was evicted from its Ohio location late last year and was sued for failing to pay employees at that site as well.
Matt Horn, who serves as the Geneva city manager, said the property’s owner, Geneva Industrial Development Agency (IDA), informed officials E-Waste Systems is in default on its lease at the New York facility.
“We have not moved to eviction proceedings at this point,” Horn told E-Scrap News, “but when/if that becomes necessary, we will use all available legal remedies to ensure that the space is returned to marketable condition at no expense to the IDA.”
According to the Finger Lakes Times, a note outside the Geneva facility indicates the operation is closed and is no longer accepting material.
Ave Bauder, who runs collections events for the Center of Community Engagement and Service-Learning at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and had worked with EWSI in the past, had to cancel a recent collection event due to the closure.
According to Bauder, EWSI never charged for collecting electronics. “They did that for us from the beginning,” Bauder told E-Scrap News, referring to the free services.
The closure leaves EWSI with one remaining property in the U.S., a small repair and refurb shop in Irvine, California doing business as CPU Computer Repair. That location is listed as an active participant in the state’s covered electronic waste payment system.
EWSI, a publicly traded firm, at one time announced goals of reaching $50 million in revenues for 2014. The company has yet to release its annual report on the year, but filings for the first three quarters of 2014 show total revenues of $1.38 million and expenses of $7.84 million.
Calls to E-Waste System’s Geneva facility were not returned. Calls to the company’s treasurer and vice president, Susan Johnson, and the company’s lawyer, Cynthia Bitting, were not returned. CEO Martin Nielson could not be reached by E-Scrap News for an interview.
