Business sees growing demand for reusing electronics amid tariffs

CHARLOTTE — With the U.S. discarding millions of electronic items annually, PayMore franchise Store Representative Jack Hayes is advocating for a shift toward recycling and upcycling, especially as import tariffs drive up prices on new devices.

Jack Hayes helps manage PayMore, a store, that buys, resells and recycles used, broken or obsolete electronics.

Recycling companies across the country estimate that we dump around 400 million electronic items every year, oftentimes because they become obsolete, difficult to fix, or there’s simply a newer, better model.

Hayes says the value in those old pieces is easy to overlook.

“They are perfectly fine to be recycled or even upcycled,” he said.

Hayes says there’s a growing demand to re-use what we already have, with the cost of electronics set to rise as the country enforces import tariffs.

“One day, you can have prices that are crazy high, and then the next day. It’s just settled back down to the market average,” Hayes said.

Hayes says they’ve already seen a growing interest in buying used to avoid that volatility.

He expects that it will soon trickle down to the parts market as well.

“Stuff like this,” Hayes said. “It’s an old computer power supply. They’ve got a ton of copper in here, and it can definitely be upcycled into something different.”

Items like that are usually burned when not recycled, which contributes to 70% of the toxic waste in U.S. landfills.

Hayes sees a better future to prevent pollution by putting what we already have to better use.

“It’s definitely an underrepresented market,” he said.

You can also dispose of electronics through Mecklenburg Solid Waste at its full-service recycling drop-off centers.

Tossing used or broken electronics in the trash can be dangerous or even illegal. Last month, we reported on several fires at Mecklenburg County recycling facilities due to improperly recycled lithium ion batteries.

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