Turning Disposal into Opportunity

With a dual focus on protecting the environment and creating meaningful opportunities for disadvantaged citizens, Faneuil and VersAbility Resources partnered to recycle materials that might otherwise be discarded.

On behalf of a statewide transportation client, Faneuil manages, assigns and distributes transponders – small electronic devices linked to pre-paid accounts that allow drivers to travel pay-for-use roadways without stopping to pay tolls. Faneuil tracks each transponder from the day it arrives through its life with the customer up to the end of its useful life. At that point, toll operators are typically responsible for their disposal.

In 2014, rather than contract for the disposal of transponders tagged for destruction, Faneuil initiated a partnership with VersAbility, a Southeastern Virginia non-profit that provides employment and other assistance for individuals with disabilities. Through VersAbility’s Supported Employment program, employees of the organization disassemble the retired transponders, scrub all stored data, and make the component parts available for repurposing. As a result, pieces of transponders are given new life as part of the more than five million pounds of electronic material VersAbility diverted from landfills in 2015. VersAbility earned the recycling industry’s leading certifications for data security, health, environmental responsibility and safety, including R2 and Recycling Industry Operating Standard (RIOS) designations.

In another successful collaboration, VersAbility employees read license plate photos of vehicles without transponders traveling on toll roads. Accurate identification of the registered owners is essential to proper invoicing by Faneuil for toll payments. Faneuil continues to explore opportunities that match business needs with solutions that provide substantive employment opportunities for the disabled while contributing to the common good.