Welcome to ByteBack STL: How It All Started

Hi, I’m Roshan

I’m a junior in high school, and like most families, mine has a "drawer" (or several) filled with old chargers, phones, earbuds, random cables, and many other gadgets we forgot we even owned.

The Wake-Up Moment

In the spring of 2023, while we were cleaning our house, my family looked at each other and said, "This can't be right". There were chargers for phones we hadn’t used in years, broken devices stuffed into boxes, and enough cables to fill an entire backpack. It made me wonder what do we do with all of this stuff? Throwing it into the garbage didn't seem right.

When I started researching the issue, I realized my family wasn’t alone. According to the World Economic Forum, e-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in the world. In 2019, the U.S. generated about 6.92 million tons of e-waste, around 46 pounds per person, but only 15 percent was recycled. (Source: World Economic Forum https://www.weforum.org/stories/2022/06/recycling-global-statistics-facts-plastic-paper/)

Unfortunately, most people don't recycle their electronics.

How ByteBack STL Began

Once I understood the size of the problem, I decided to take action. My goal was simple: make electronic recycling easier for people at school.

Step 1: Partnering with Spectrum Ecycle

The first thing I did was reach out to Spectrum Ecycle Solutions, Inc., a certified electronics recycling company in St. Louis. Most electronics recycling companies charge money to accept certain items. Spectrum Ecycle, however, generously agreed to accept and process all the electronics I collected for free.

That’s when I realized I needed a nonprofit model to help reduce these costs and keep recycling accessible for everyone.

Step 2: School Collection Bins

After securing a recycling partner, I set up electronic collection bins at the main entrances to my school. This made recycling easy for students, teachers, and families, who could drop off everything from chargers to calculators to old phones. I was surprised to see how well these bins were received.

Step 3: Partnering with Potpourri

Next, I partnered with my school’s major resale event, Potpourri, which brings in donations from hundreds of families. As people dropped off their old computers, networking gear, lamps, toasters, and space heaters, etc. I sorted through them.

If something looked like it couldn’t be resold or safely reused, I placed it in a separate collection box to be delivered to Spectrum for certified recycling. Instead of ending up in the trash, these items were processed responsibly. This collaboration with Potpourri gave families a simple way to clear out old tech while guaranteeing that anything unusable was recycled safely through Spectrum.

Step 4: From School Drives to a Bigger Vision

The Potpourri collection drives opened my eyes to how much e-waste people were trying to get rid of and how relieved they were to have a place to take it finally. But it also made something very clear: if I wanted to make a real impact, I had to reach more than just my school. Families across St. Louis were facing the same problem, and they needed consistent, accessible drop-off options.

That’s when I realized the next challenge. Even with Spectrum Ecycle generously accepting everything I collected, responsible recycling still comes with real costs. If I wanted to expand beyond school events and serve a larger community, I needed a way to cover those costs so that recycling could stay free and easy for everyone.

That’s why I decided to start ByteBack STL as a nonprofit. I needed a way to raise money, scale our efforts, and bring convenient e-cycling opportunities to more neighborhoods, schools, and families across the region.

What’s Coming Next

Here are some of the projects we’re working on this year:

• More collection drives across other schools

• New partnerships with local organizations and municipalities

• A St. Louis “E-Waste Map” of drop-off locations

• Educational guides explaining what can be recycled

• A data dashboard showing pounds collected

• Fundraising to help cover the cost of recycling

  
  

How You Can Get Involved

Even as our program grows, there are already great ways to support ByteBack STL:

• Donate: Help cover the cost of responsible recycling.

• Join the Email List: Stay updated on collection events and community drives.

• Spread the Word: Tell friends and neighbors. Most people don’t recycle electronics simply because they don’t know where to go.

• Start Your Own Cleanup: Check your drawers and closets for old phones, chargers, and cables. You’ll be surprised by how much is hiding there.

A Final Thought

ByteBack STL started with a messy drawer in my house, but it quickly turned into a mission to help our entire community recycle electronics responsibly. 

If we make it easy, people will do it. And together, we can keep thousands of pounds of e-waste out of landfills.

Thanks for being part of the beginning.