R3eWaste Licenses its Software to the Industry at Large
Realizing that no other firm in the industry would be interested in licensing R3eWaste’s operations management software, while the company was still utilizing it, the CEO of the electronics reuse and recycling organization made a bold decision to make the technology accessible to all.
“For obvious reasons, no one in the e-waste industry is going to buy it if the person that owns the software is a competitor,” CEO of R3eWaste, Graham Wollaston, relayed to E-Scrap News.
R3eWaste consequently abandoned its ITAD and e-scrap recycling division, and decided instead to focus exclusively on developing advanced proprietary software.
Wollaston concluded that it was impossible for both entities to process used electronics and simultaneously sell the software, because they “could not co-exist,” he explained.
Despite initial unease amongst key processors about sharing technology with rivals who might use it inappropriately as a way of negatively impacting competition’s bottom line, Wollaston remained undeterred and stayed true his vision of offering user-friendly technology at scale.
RecycleSoft is Formed
RecycleSoft is a remarkable company that distinguishes itself from other software providers by its rich history in electronics recycling and reuse.
Wollaston’s experience in facilities management laid the groundwork for the development of the Recycling Operations Management System (ROMS). This comprehensive software suite assists with various activities such as bookkeeping, tracking employee hours and managing devices through reuse, part retrieval and recycling processes.
A Background in Software Development
Wollaston established R3eWaste in Phoenix back in 2016. The firm operated facilities across three distinct cities including Phoenix (Arizona), Austin (Texas), and Tucson (Arizona). He had previously founded ScrapComputer.com further back in 2001, but sold off the business after a decade.
His involvement with the recycling industry began over two decades ago when he started ScrapComputer.com along with his background in software development. In the early days of Wollaston’s career, he wrote code himself before engaging external teams located in India and Eastern Europe for assistance.
After the culmination of six iterations, the software now stands at a massive 2.3 million lines of code in a debugged and operational form, he stated. He also revealed that R3eWaste utilizes the software for a vast majority of its operations.
“It’s very robust. It was being used in R3eWaste for the last 8 years,” he explained.
Stepping Away from Processing
As 2022 came to an end, an important business decision was reached by the company to terminate its material processing division.
This conclusion was primarily stimulated due to several factors including the impending closure of its leasehold location in Phoenix, coupled with a steep hike in rental fees charged by new ownership. Increased costs caused by regulatory compliance requirements also became prohibitively expensive- especially maintaining R2 certification status, thereby compelling grander cutbacks aimed at streamlining operations.
The result of the changes closed three processing plants, and led to 32 employee layoffs in order to become a software-only company, with just a virtual office. Fortunately, seven of those individuals were then re-hired by RecycleSoft, the new software business run by Wollaston.
These employees had institutional knowledge of ROMS and would help provide a support network for its customers in getting up and running.
ROMS Technology
The platform’s foundation rests on a highly innovative software program called ROMS, which offers extensive utility to its users through an amalgamation of multiplatform applications.
The convenient suite encompasses several features designed for both handheld and desktop devices such as; inventory management tools, data erasure solutions, certificate creation options, e-commerce sales hubs- including shipment weightage calculations, double-entry accounting solutions, and real-time location tracking for drivers aimed at route optimization.
Notably, it furnishes customers with both environmental impact reports as well as effective mass email blast capabilities.
“I have seen the other offerings and they are shiny, new and cover 40% but still require use of spreadsheets for the other 60%,” Wollaston stated. “We do 100% – not a single spreadsheet required.”
At the International Secure Information Governance and Management Association (i-SIGMA) Conference in Las Vegas this past March, RecycleSoft made its official debut. The software was especially well-received by those in the paper shredding industry. These users do not require 90% of what ROMS provides, meaning these paper shredding organizations can be set up quickly and simply.
RecycleSoft Targets Large Processors
RecycleSoft is now targeting a major player in the ITAD and e-scrap market. The in-depth business logic associated with the ITAD and e-scrap market may be too complex for a software-only company to comprehend, but Wollaston is confident his team can handle its intricacies.
ROMS can rate customers on several criteria such as the worth of electronic equipment, the complexity associated with sorting it, and how far one might have to travel to collect the material. This ordering system helps staff to decide which pickups should take priority.
“If I’m just a software developer and have never been in the business, that sort of thing would never occur to me,” he said.
RecycleSoft is committed to supporting ITAD providers and advancing its innovative technology in the years ahead.
