GreenBoard IT Earns Certifications, Secures Building

WARREN, Ohio – GreenBoard IT, which provides secure and environmentally sustainable e-waste recycling services, recently achieved several industry certifications, including one – R2v3 – that the company says is a first for a Mahoning Valley business.

At the same time, Greenboard IT has invested more $800,000 in real estate and facility improvements, the company announced. The company secured 817 E. Market St., formerly owned by Carrier Services Group, where it plans to employ 10 by year-end.

In announcing its headquarters, the company said it chose Warren as home because of its founders’ personal connections to the Mahoning Valley and local support from Warren Mayor Franklin, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber, Brite Energy Innovators and the Youngstown Business Incubator.

“We want to be a part of the growing community. This company is a way for us to invest in and be a part of the economic development happening in the region,” founder Chuck George said. “We are thrilled with the level of local support and look forward to playing our part in the community.”

The industry certifications were attained after a rigorous audit process that included site visits and data audits by a third party, the company said. The standards are meant to ensure that all material is handled sustainability and all personal data is destroyed.

GreenBoard IT works with nearly all types of e-waste, including desktop personal computers, laptops, servers, computer monitors and screens, cables and wires, networking gear, uninterruptible power supplies and printers. 

“Our goal is to ensure that your computer, printer, router or server is recycled while also making sure that none of your data ends up in the wrong hands,” said Wiley Runnestrand, vice president. “That’s our job in a nutshell. These certifications make sure we prove our process to the auditors and our customers.”

Runnesrtrand said the certification process cost well over $80,000, adding “it’s worth it.”

The R2v3 certification, unique to the e-waste business sector, has two core tenets: data security, requiring a record be maintained and proven of every data device that enters the facility and that its data was destroyed; and landfill reduction, requiring recycling or reuse when at all possible.     

With these certifications, GreenBoard IT’s systems are designed to work with Fortune 500 companies while also continuing their work with local businesses.

“We saw a need for a local business to step up and provide the services in the greater Valley,” said Mike Martof, vice president. “People want to recycle and do the right thing. It’s just hard to know what that is sometimes. And people want to know their data is safe. That’s what we are proving with R2v3.”

Other certifications the company has secured include:

• ISO 9001:2015, a quality management standard that requires demonstrating business processes are in place such as customer reviews and surveys, internal quality control and improvement metrics and troubleshooting systems that continually drive better customer service and satisfaction.
• ISO 14001:2015, an environmental management standard that requires there are systems in place to continually reduce and reuse when possible, including processes for finding new and creative ways to reduce and reuse or finding new uses for components of recycled machines.
• ISO 45001:2018, a health and safety standard to ensure employees, visitors and customers are provided a safe environment and that ways are constantly being explored to make it safer.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.