Gentex Employees Tackle E-Waste Issues at Electronics Recycling Event

Cars wait in line to drop off their electronics at the 2025 Electronics Recycling Event.

Drive up to Gentex’s North Riley Campus in Zeeland during the summer, and you might see a string of cars and a crew of green-shirted volunteers unloading all sorts of appliances, from old big-screen TVs and refrigerators to broken iPods and out-of-date laptops. What looks like a drive-through yard sale is a community-wide sustainability effort at Gentex – the annual Electronics Recycling Event.

Since 2017, employees from the Resource Recovery team have partnered with Green Earth Electronics Recycling to give Gentex employees the opportunity to dispose of their e-waste in an environmentally friendly and responsible manner. Originally limited to Gentex employees, the annual Electronics Recycling Event is now open to friends and family as well. During the one-day annual event, anyone can drive up and drop off their old electronics for free, where they are either repurposed or recycled by Green Earth.

Throughout the day, the recyclables pile up fast as volunteers remove, sort, bundle, and stack all manner of e-waste. Microwaves alone accounted for 881 pounds of the 7.9 tons of e-waste collected during the 2025 event.

Total amounts of e-waste collected during the 2025 Electronics Recycling Event.

The event ties into the company’s commitment to social responsibility and sustainable operation.  Within the manufacturing space at Gentex, waste stewardship is an everyday concern. Wastewater from production processes is recovered after use, cleaned, and re-used right on site. Scrap glass is collected and remanufactured into insulation. Even waste heat from the compressed air systems is captured and recycled to preheat water used in the production process and facility heating systems in the winter.

Gentex employees stand next to stacks of recycled electronics at this year's Electronics Recycling Event.

Outside of the manufacturing space, however, it’s often harder for employees to access effective recycling services. Disposal is especially difficult for electronics waste, which often contains hazardous materials that can pose an environmental hazard. The Electronics Recycling Event provides a way for Gentex employees to engage in sustainable waste management for these hard-to-dispose-of items, and for the wider community to participate as well.

“Gentex is great at collecting recyclables in the manufacturing area,” said Gentex Sustainability Manager Emily Haslinger, who has helped organized the event since it started.  “The Electronics Recycling Event is an opportunity to get beyond the walls of the manufacturing area and allow people to bring in products from outside of work.”

An employee in a Gentex vest helps load recyclables at the 2025 Electronics Recycling Event.

The Electronics Recycling event is set up to be accessible to employees and their families and friends. Handling fees that normally would be incurred for hard-to-recycle devices are covered by Gentex. Volunteers from the company and Green Earth assist with moving appliances out of vehicles during the drop-off.

The result has been growing participation over the years, from 120 drop-offs in 2017 to 229 in 2024.

To date, over 125,000 pounds of e-waste have been recycled or repurposed through the annual event – a number that’s sure to continue growing over coming years.