ST. CLAIRSVILLE — A new veteran-owned business has opened its doors in St. Clairsville, providing a safe and trusted way for residents to recycle their electronic appliances.

Zero Tech Waste is located at 47865 Reservoir Rd. and offers office drop-offs, residential pick-ups, business pick-ups, and data destruction with certification of proof available upon request.

To schedule a drop-off or pick-up, contact Zero Tech Waste at 740-346-9019.

The new business is owned and operated by Jose and Makayla Herrera, both of whom previously served in the National Guard.

“We both served the last six years in the National Guard, it’s been an amazing service for us,” Makayla Herrera said. “We’re very, very passionate about that. We loved it. It changed our lives and was amazing for that.”

Jose Herrera works on the recycling process while Makayla Herrera works as the customer service liaison and marketing director.

Jose Herrera said that the business’ goal is for residents to bring in old or obsolete pieces of technology, such as computers, laptops, phones, etc. and he will take the device apart and remove all of the pieces. After removing everything from the device he will ship the item off to sell it for the metals inside of the devices.

“Right now it’s going to be on a donation basis. We’re kind of going to see if we have to adjust it going forward,” Makayla Herrera said. “We’re hoping to get it on a bigger scale, and offer it more like a trash pickup service.”

Jose Herrera said that, as of now, the company is doing free pickup in Belmont County and surrounding areas, but would eventually like to expand to the entirety of the Ohio Valley.

“We’re saving them a trip, and we’re saving the devices from just being thrown away,” Jose Herrera said.

The business makes a profit by selling the devices to a recycling center after he properly takes the devices apart, Jose Herrera said.

“The place that we deal with does it in bulk. So we have to have a good bit to go and take it there,” he said. “Once we take it there, they recycle it and reuse it. It’ll be changed into other tech devices or they’ll reuse the metals.”

Makayla Herrera hopes the business will bring awareness to the fact that a lot of tech is not being recycled. She believes that a huge reason why it isn’t being recycled is due to data constantly getting leaked throughout the world.

“A large portion of what we offer is that anything that comes through our doors, we automatically delete everything,” Makayla said. “We make sure that it’s completely safe. We keep them behind locked doors before we recycle them. And we also offer people a certificate, if they would like to purchase one, that proves that we delete their data.”

She added that the certificate is at the federal level standard and hopes it will help build trust with residents that their data won’t be leaked.

“We’re parents, we have a little one and really want to make a better future for her,” Makayla Herrera said. “We really want to make a difference in the community, and especially when you see every single day that somebody’s data or banking information got leaked.”

She said the family’s goal is to ensure residents have a safe and legitimate avenue to recycle electronic devices.

Jose Herrera said that the harder it is for someone to safely recycle, the less likely people will actually take the steps to do it.