Waukegan, Illinois, Feb. 18, 2015 – Local firm specializing in IT Asset Management and responsible Electronics Recycling is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. The ARCOA Group was founded in 1990 as Midwest Copier Exchange by Ed Spriegel and provides asset remarketing and recycling for all types of “end of use” office electronics and copiers.
The ARCOA Group has grown from a company that started in Mr. Spriegel’s garage in Beach Park, Illinois with Spriegel and one other employee, to now employing over 80 full-time staff members in 4 locations nationwide. This anniversary marks 25 years of innovation and improvements within the company and the industry. When asked why he founded the company, Mr. Spriegel responded, “I was working in a large corporation and didn’t like what I saw. I wanted something different for myself, my family and hopefully for my future employees. I wanted to build a company that encouraged free thinking and innovation and I did not want our decisions and actions to be defined by traditional ‘corporate’ norms.”
The ARCOA Group began as a remarketer of used copiers that Mr. Spriegel would purchase from local copier dealers and resell to other copier dealers in the Chicago metro area. The business has expanded to serving customers across the entire United States and even globally. ARCOA’s expertise in the industry has led to partnerships with a number of large financial leasing institutions for whom ARCOA would provide remarketing services of off-lease office and medical equipment. While remarketing continues to be a core focus of The ARCOA Group, in 2009 Mr. Spriegel saw a growing need for the recycling of electronics and partnered with George Hinkle to establish Midwest Electronics Recycling.
Initially Midwest Electronics Recycling recycled only copiers, printers and fax machines from Midwest Copier Exchange that were considered obsolete or un-repairable. As the company continued to grow, they began offering recycling services to corporate customers in the Chicago metro area. Terry Levy joined Hinkle and Spriegel as a partner in 2010 and brought to the company an extensive background in precious metals and electronics recycling gained after many years in the industry in South Africa. In 2011, Midwest Electronics Recycling became one of the first companies in the country to become both R2 and ISO14001 certified and changed their name to the Asset Recycling Company of America (ARCOA) to better identify themselves as a nationwide provider of asset management and electronics recycling services. ARCOA also provides services to other recyclers, computer refurbishers and scrap metal yards through the purchase of scrap commodities and electronics that require disassembly and processing. In 2013, Midwest Copier Exchange and ARCOA merged together to form the ARCOA Group. Today the company employs over 80 full-time staff members and has offices in Illinois, Wisconsin, Maryland and Florida.
About ARCOA Group
The ARCOA Group provides a closed loop solution for businesses requiring secure and safe management and disposal of IT assets, office and medical equipment. Their services include de-installation at customer locations, transportation of equipment in their own fleet of trucks, data sanitization, serialized equipment reports, certificates of recycling and destruction, remarketing services, redeployment of equipment and recycling for end-of-life electronics. They have also recently broadened their services to include toner cartridge recycling, as well as a buy back program for mobile phones, with additional program offerings in development to better serve their existing and future customers. The ARCOA Group provides all of these services throughout the US and Canada.
For additional information you can visit them at: www.thinkarcoa.com
