Abt Electronics Unveils 30,000-Square-Foot Onsite Recycling Center

Glenview, IL Retailer Builds New Space More Than Double in Size to Recycle 95 Percent of Its Own Waste and Reduce Environmental Footprint

May, 2021

GLENVIEW, Ill. – Long known for its expansive and renowned green initiatives, 85-year-old Abt Electronics, the largest independently-owned, single-location retailer of electronics, appliances, and home goods in the country debuts a larger recycling center to become more efficient in its waste management and expand its commitment to sustainability.

Located on the southern portion of Abt's property, adjacent to its main building, the new recycling center is two-and-a-half times bigger than the previous one. Abt constructed its first onsite, 12,000-square-foot recycling center in 2008. The new recycling center features state-of-the-art equipment including a GreenMax machine for recycling Styrofoam. The machine melts Styrofoam into raw materials used for picture frames, home construction materials, and more. The center will also have an Auger Compactor, a heavy-duty machine designed for compacting large volumes of waste materials.

"This was a significant, but important investment for the company," said Mike Abt, co-president of Abt Electronics. "We are committed to expanding our green program as the company continues to grow and our new, larger recycling center is a prime example of one of our core values: to create a more sustainable world for future generations. With the new recycling center, our goal is not only to deliver on our sustainability promise, but also to encourage our customers, local community and other businesses to reuse natural resources."

Abt Electronics recycles 95 percent of its own waste — including cardboard, plastic, old products, wood pallets, and packing materials in which merchandise is shipped in. Every year, Abt's recycling efforts save 2.2 million pounds of cardboard and paper going to the local dump, over 350,000 pounds of Styrofoam, over 13 million pounds of appliances, and 1.4 million pounds of electronics from going to landfills.

In addition, Abt also accepts old, broken, or unwanted electronics and appliances from their customers and the public. Although the new recycling center welcomes dropoff, Abt is encouraging those who want to discard waste responsibly to head over to the curbside pickup area, where they can conveniently find a small recycling box truck to drop off all recyclable materials. There is no fee to drop off unwanted items, no matter their size. The only exception to this are TVs, as they contain hazardous chemicals and must be properly recycled. Abt charges fees for TVs in order to send them to a third-party facility that follows EPA standards in e-waste recycling. The picture tubes from the TV sets get recycled into kitchen backsplash tiles.

For more information on Abt's green initiatives, visit: https://www.abt.com/help/green-initiatives

Charisse Barnachea, Mekky Media Relations
[email protected]
847-404-5216