By Cindy Gladden, Record Staff Writer
A new 104,000-square-foot building that houses more than 70 employees and one giant shredder has made its home at 100 S. Stringtown Road in Wright City.EPC USA, a subsidiary of American company CSI Leasing, provides recycling of electronic equipment to a worldwide customer base.The $5 million building, constructed by local company Banze Construction and located on 13 acres, was built specifically to house the company’s 250 horsepower magnetic optical sorter shredder of electronic equipment, or “e-scrap.”Dave Beal, vice president, said one of the company’s main focuses is to help corporate America safely dispose of its electronics. EPC concentrates on minimizing data security and environmental risks.“We work a lot with the financial sector and the medical sector,” said Beal. “Our big niche is data security.”The company, founded by Dan Fuller in 1984, also extracts valuable byproducts from the equipment they shred, including steel, copper and aluminum. The shredder helps by having the capability to sort by using the human eye, cameras and air jets.An operator also can specify the type of equipment coming through the shredder, such as a printer. The machine is pre-programmed to sort different types of materials.Beal said the company owns 11 box trucks containing a shredder and a generator that are able to collect electronic equipment directly from the customer.“This makes the customer feel more secure,” he said. “Sometimes they don’t like the IT to leave their premises.”Beal said the company is able to resell some of the equipment it acquires. Each cellphone, iPad or computer has been completely “wiped” of its information and is ready to go to a wholesaler or leasing company.People interested in disposing of their computer equipment should never throw it away, according to Beal. Many hazardous materials are contained inside IT equipment. EPC has a retail store at its headquarters in St. Charles where computers may be disposed or recycled.Employees work under LED lighting and 24-foot fans keeping the warehouse at an even temperature. The facility is totally secure with more than 40 security cameras, security guards and fenced docks.“It was a good decision to bring our plant here,” said Beal. “We like the area, the people are friendly and we have hired a good work force.”EPC is approved by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. The company is a Ban Certified e-Steward and certified with the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID).CSI Leasing is operational in more than 42 countries. EPC’s corporate office is located in St. Louis, with additional facilities in Kansas City, Las Vegas, Columbia, S.C., Canada, Costa Rica, the UK and Slovakia.The Wright City plant replaces the company’s facility in Earth City.Jesse Gross, left, and Kirsten Johnson, employees of EPC USA, check byproducts coming from the shredder/ sorter system as a last look. Scrap has already traveled through several stations of the giant shredder, where the machine has already sorted metals and other byproducts. Record photo, Cindy Gladden.
