Plymouth E-Waste Company Looks To Hire Workers with Special Needs

Thursday was Tarun Pulgam’s first day on the job at Global Ewaste Solutions in Plymouth. 

The 20-year-old spent his first morning helping disassemble old PCs for separation into components that could be stripped of any data and possibly reassembled into repurposed units for sale.

“It kind of does sound really fun because there are so many components,” said Pulgam. “You can easily find them and you can throw them [into marked bins] easily.”

Pulgam is the third adult with special needs the company has hired recently as part of its Discovering Abilities initiative fueled by a grant from Mitsubishi.

“How do we bring individuals into our organization and introduce them to a wide range of electronics to find out what are they good at?” said Dave Potter, managing partner at Global Ewaste Solutions. “How do we help discover these abilities and really enhance and nurture those abilities into a full-time profession?”

A worker disassembles a used PC at Global Ewaste Solutions in Plymouth.

The positions can be part- or full-time, Potter said. He said so far the company has hired three positions with the potential for three more in a few months’ time. He said he is working with Wayzata Public Schools to potentially fill some positions.

Potter said his 30-plus employees help process thousands of pieces of electronic office and computer equipment every month at the Plymouth warehouse. Much of it is repurposed, and some of it is resold.

“Recycle is great, but reuse is really the model that wins,” said Potter. 

His workers also diligently scrub all devices of all data, he said.

“Every form of electronics has data on it now. You really can no longer just send it downstream to a guy in a pickup truck,” said Potter. “You really have to think in terms of brand protection: how do we eliminate the data and protect our brand?”

Plymouth | Twin Cities