Garmin Celebrates Earth Day with E-Scrap + Shred Event

After a Covid-induced hiatus, Garmin’s Earth Day recycling event returned to the Olathe campus on April 22. Held in the northeast parking lot of Building 5, the drive-through event drew more than 500 associates who dropped off e-scrap and paper waste during one of two sessions. In all, associates recycled more than 11,000 pounds of paper and 68 pallets of e-scrap, compared with 6,000 pounds of paper and 28 pallets of e-scrap in 2019.

“Overall, we pretty much doubled the volume of scrap recycled two years ago,” said Nick Funesti, Garmin Environmental Health and Safety (EHS) associate and event coordinator. “It definitely blew me away seeing the response from associates who were excited about it and showed up.”

The annual event encourages associates to finish up their spring cleaning by bringing in unwanted electronic, documents and papers to a contactless drop-off site on campus.

Aided by team members from facilities, security, IT compliance and EHS — along with 7 Garmin volunteers — participants successfully diverted about 2,000 pounds of batteries and 160 cubic feet of cardboard from the landfill.

“We couldn’t have done it without those folks who volunteered,” Funesti said. “We will definitely hold this event again next year on Earth Day and continue to do it every year and hopefully we can scale and get the word out more and get even more participation.”

E-waste is the fastest-growing waste product in America, and approximately one billion trees’ worth of paper is thrown away every year in the U.S.