By Raquel Perez WHYY News
According to the EPA, Americans generated 2.7 million tons of consumer electronics waste in 2018. The world produces 50 million tons of e-waste each year. Only 20% of that waste is recycled, with the remaining waste going to landfills.
People Advancing Reintegration, known as PAR-Recycle Works, is a nonprofit organization trying to change those recycling rates — as well as the rate of the formerly incarcerated who end up back in prison.
The mission of PAR-Recycle is to reduce recidivism through electronics recycling. The organization provides transitional employment to people who are returning home from prison. The nonprofit started back in 2016 and has worked with 110 people. Of that number, 90 have gone on to full-time work, and only two have gone back to prison.
PAR-Recycle Works provides training and therapies that include financial literacy, digital literacy, cognitive behavioral therapy, conflict resolution, mindfulness, forklift operation, and support in getting driver’s licenses. The idea is to set people up for success in their time with the organization, which is usually six to nine months.
“It is a way for individuals to get their lives back after incarceration,” PAR-Recycle Founder Maurice Jones said.
The United States incarcerates more of its population than any other country in the world. In Pennsylvania, Philadelphia has the highest incarceration rate of any county, and approximately 25,000 people come back to the city every year from prison. Out of that, 17,500 end up going back to prison. U.S. Department of Justice statistics say that over 68% of those released from prison in the first three years will be reincarcerated.
“Being from the city, understanding the city, having an upbringing from the hood I know what it’s like. I’ve been a statistic, I’ve been to jail and I know what people are faced with when they come home without support,” said Jones.
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