by Susan DeFreitas, November 25th, 2011

San Jose Museum turns e-waste into art
By: Shawn Wright
October 17, 2011

http://www.wasterecyclingnews.com/arcshow.html?id=11101700402&q=greenmouse

New life and a different perspective are being given to e-waste at the San Jose Museum of Art.

Artist Anna Sew Hoy, San Jose, Calif.-based GreenMouse Recycling and the Bay Area Glass Institute (BAGI) have collaborated to create a new group of sculptural works entitled “Nothing All Day” that showcases discarded electronics.

Sew Hoy’s work is the second installation in the museum’s experimental exhibition gallery “Beta Space,” which premiered in late August and runs through Feb. 26.

“There are a lot of different things going on in the work,” Sew Hoy said. “I think what people will see is how much stuff we throw away; how quickly things become obsolete.”

The installation incorporates custom-blown glass pieces made by BAGI artists and recycled e-waste such as computer keyboards, mice and DSL cords.

Sew Hoy also wanted to highlight “Nothing All Day.” She worked with BAGI to create large glass vessels to contain the e-waste.

Evelyn O’Donnell, founder and owner of GreenMouse, jumped at the opportunity to sponsor the exhibit.

“My heart is really in the arts,” said O’Donnell, who has a background in costume and interior design. “Even though I consider myself a junk collector, I like to think of putting dignity to the stuff that we find and recycle. My dream has always been to mix art with e-waste.”

Founded in 2004, GreenMouse uses recycling to help support community jobs programs and fundraising for nonprofit arts and theatre groups. The company offers free e-waste recycling, both collection and drop-off, to businesses and residential consumers in the Bay Area.

“I think she must’ve sent about 400 pounds of white keyboards and mouses to my house,” Sew Hoy said. “I was really inspired by Evelyn; just the fact that she started this business herself, the way she interacts with the things she recycles, the e-waste itself and the way she collects pieces that are of interest to her.”

GreenMouse already hosts a permanent display of obscure and early computer technologies at its San Jose location, O’Donnell said.

“When they called,” O’Donnell said, “it was just good timing. Their dream met my dream.”
 

Company Profile: GreenMouse Recycling

PROFILE — By on May 15, 2011 at 12:52 pm

http://www.ewastejournal.com/?s=GreenMouse+Recycling

“Recycling is more than just dropping it off and having it magically disappear,” said Evelyn O’Donnell, CEO of GreenMouse Recycling in San Jose, Calif. California recycling legislation makes it simple for consumers to recycle potentially hazardous electronic materials, such as older CRT computer monitors, with programs that offer incentives to collectors and recyclers. But making it easy for consumers doesn’t mean the collector’s job is done for them.

“While consumers are able to drop off components without cost to them, the e-waste must still be recycled responsibly – there are rules and regulations, many categories of red tape and bureaucracy. The general public is unaware of our challenges in making a small electronics recycling company run efficiently. I know I once was.”

Prior to opening the e-waste collection business in 2004, O’Donnell had been involved in many charitable organizations in the Silicon Valley and was looking to develop a second career in a purpose-driven enterprise. “I’d worked in high-tech marketing and sales, and I’d never really thought about where e-waste went,” she said. Like so many people, she just figured it went ‘away’ and she no longer had to be concerned with it. “I had no idea where all this stuff went and when I found out, it opened up whole new world for me.”

GreenMouse Recycling, based in near Highway 101 in San Jose, collects discarded electronics for recycling on-site, at businesses and through special collection events to aid non-profits. Today her challenges include educating the general public that there is no magic way to dispose of discarded electronics.

“Our responsibility continues even after the e-waste goes to the recycler. We ensure government rules and regulations are adhered to long after the materials have left our docks,” O’Donnell said

Her other communications challenges focus on the public’s widely held misperception that broken computers being processed by children in developing nations such as India and China. “While that may happen in some small degree, California rules in particular require us as collectors to assure e-waste is recycled in a legal manner and is monitored by third party organizations.

“Everything goes to China eventually,” she said, “but only long after the materials have been processed into a near raw state.”

In founding the company, O’Donnell’s vision was to create a purpose-driven company that would also provide sustainable employment and training to disadvantaged adults. The company now has 10 employees, and is at a comfortable level, she said.

Being small has certain advantages, she related. She knows many of the contracts and needs of her clients herself, and fears she will lose that one-on-one touch as her business grows. As she prepares to expand out of her 4,500 feet of high-roof industrial space, she is looking for ways to retain the personal, hands-on experience the customer receives from her firm. Among her plans are a learning center and e-waste museum, not a least of which includes a near complete collection of Apple computers from the early 1980s, most of which are still functional. Her idea is to make recycling friendly, memorable and approachable; something she feels is unavailable through larger, more corporate alternatives.

“We’re starting with the children, for example,” she said. “We hope to instill life-long habits of sustainable environmental stewardship.

In addition, she says GreenMouse has another strategic competitive advantage. “When people ask if we can do something, we say, “Yes” first, and then figure out how to make it happen.”

by Peter Maxwell
Mountain View Voice Staff

http://www.mv-voice.com/news/show_story.php?id=3990

By Mary Gottschalk

Willow Glen Resident

GreenMouse Recycling is hosting a combination e-waste collection and gift collection event on Dec. 4 to benefit InnVision the Way Home.

People can drop off computers, televisions, monitors, cell phones, printers, laptops and other e-waste items from 9AM to 4PM in the parking lot behind 1900 The Alameda at Hedding Street.

At the same time, they are encouraged to bring new children's toys, unused electronics, gift cards, food and cleaning products for InnVision.

Founded in 1973, InnVision is the leading provider of housiing and services for homeless and at-risk families and individuals in Silicon Valley.  it serves more than 26,000 men, women, children, veterans and the mentally ill each year.

"Our needs have grown tremendously -- we are now serving over 1,400 clients daily," says Christine Burroughs, InnVision CEO.

"The economy has impacted our ability to service our clients with daily shelter, meals and other resources.  To be able to give holiday gifts during these challenging economic times is a wonderful thing."

Evelyn O'Donnell, a Rose Garden resident and CEO of GreenMouse, says "In the true spirit of Christmas, we are delighted to be able to reach out to our community and combine recycling with Christmas giving."

O'Donnell founded her firm in 2004 under the name of e-Waste Services and later changed it to GreenMouse.

She says she is donating a percentage of the proceeds of the profit she makes off this recycling event to InnVision.

For additional information on InnVision visit www.innvision.org and for additional information on GreenMouse visit www.greenmouse.com.

The cast of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, performed by CMT Mainstage (ages 14-20) have taken a different path. Director John McCluggage suggested the song, "Somewhere That's Green" become a call to recycling. Local e-recycler, GreenMouse Recycling owner Evelyn O'Donnell said, "Great! Getting kids involved in their community is what recycling is all about. Face it, a world without recycling is truly a shop of horrors!" GreenMouse, Inc. is a San Jose-based company providing electronics collection and computer recycling services to businesses and residential consumers throughout California. The cast is supporting the recycling effort in the rehearsal Hall and promoting GreenMouse's recycling efforts in the show's program. "One of our guiding principles at CMT is to provide a positive nurturing community and we believe encouraging our performers and patrons to give back is part of that," said Ann Hurst, managing director of Children's Musical Theater San Jose.

On April 22, Broadcom employees in Irvine and San Jose celebrated Earth Day 2009 by recycling over 8,500 pounds of electronic waste including over 1100 pounds of computers, over 4000 pounds of televisions and monitors and over 3000 pounds of printers, fax machines and other miscellaneous items. Broadcom partnered with GreenMouse, a state-approved collector of electronic waste to collect and recycle electronic products. GreenMouse is committed to significantly reducing the amount of toxins generated by e-waste pollution and to recycle valuable resources such as plastics, glass and other materials used in the manufacturing of electronic goods.

http://sanfrancisco.broadwayworld.com/printcolumn.cfm?id=121668

By Patty Fisher, June 20, 2008

The stately colonial house, complete with topiary flanking white pillars on the front porch, doesn't look like the headquarters of an e-waste recycling business.

Welcome to GreenMouse, not your typical company.

Evelyn O'Donnell, who runs GreenMouse (www.greenmouse.com) from her spacious Rose Garden home, wants your junk. Unwanted computers, printers, cell phones - she'll pick it all up for free. She'll try to find a new home for it. What she can't reuse, she'll sell to a recycler.

"Everything can be repurposed," she said confidently. "People just don't think hard enough about how to get rid of stuff."

But there's more to GreenMouse than recycling. O'Donnell started the company in 2004 with a specific purpose: to give her daughter a job.

Briana O'Donnell showed signs of developmental delays as an infant. She has trouble processing complex instructions and making decisions. After graduating from high school in 1999, she didn't have much success holding jobs.

Meanwhile, Evelyn and her husband, Dick, had retired from successful careers with Silicon Valley start-ups. Evelyn was busy with volunteer gigs, including serving on the board of Children's Musical Theater San Jose, but was looking for a new challenge.

A garage start-up

So in 2004, mom and daughter started the recycling company, which they called eWaste Services.

Why recycling?

"There was such a huge demand," O'Donnell said. "I figured we could do this."

In true Silicon Valley style, they started the company in their garage. Evelyn ran the business and Briana ran the errands.

"Briana is great with people and isn't afraid to walk into a business and hand out fliers and talk about our services," O'Donnell said. "She does pick-ups, helps in the warehouse - whatever I need."

As word spread about the company's services - no pick-up is too small - the business took off. They rented a warehouse across town, added four employees and attracted corporate clients like Jenny Craig and Abbott Labs. Revenues have grown into the low six-figures, but O'Donnell is still plowing them back into the company.

O'Donnell has traveled all over the country picking up surplus TVs, refrigerators, microwave ovens, even furniture - and has found new lives for computers, laboratory tables and sectional sofas. She's as much a matchmaker as a recycler.

Briana, who's 27, lives on her own and takes community college classes when not working for her mom.

Focus on helping

Not every parent can start a business just to give a disabled child a job. But O'Donnell figured that since she could, she would.

"I wanted her to have the opportunity to have a career," she said. "To learn how to deal with customers and develop social skills. I could guide her. I could help her."

Besides, Briana isn't the only one benefiting from GreenMouse. A lot of that recycled junk has found its way to schools, children's programs and other non-profits.

O'Donnell recently changed her company's name to GreenMouse, which doesn't sound quite as nerdy as eWaste Services.

"I'm not really saving the planet," she said modestly. "But there are so many opportunities created by e-waste. Old refrigerators, computer equipment, it all can be turned into money. I want to be able to funnel that money back into the community."

At age 57, O'Donnell is up at 5 a.m., and at her desk in her home office late into the evening. Her phone rings constantly. I asked her when she plans to retire for good.

"Actually, I still think of myself as being retired," she said. "Because what I'm doing doesn't seem like work."