{"id":947796,"date":"2026-07-20T16:44:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T16:44:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/947796\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T16:44:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T16:44:27","slug":"e-waste-recycling-hub-opens-at-build","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/947796\/","title":{"rendered":"E-waste recycling hub opens at BUILD\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to Chicago\u2019s\u00a02023 Digital Equity Plan<\/a>, the West and South Sides have the lowest rates of home internet connection in the city. And in the 10 least connected neighborhoods, one in four residents\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0have internet \u2014 72% of those residents are Black and 25% are Latinx.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

To address the digital divide on the West Side, on July 16, Fresh Supply launched the first E-waste collection hub in Austin. Locals can drop off used or broken phones,\u00a0laptops\u00a0and tablets inside the lobby of BUILD Chicago, 5100 W. Harrison St., and the devices will be taken to PCs for People on the South Side to be refurbished or repaired.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fixed electronics will be sent back to BUILD and distributed to West Side residents who\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0own digital devices.\u00a0Nearly 50\u00a0students who are a part of Fresh Supply\u2019s End E-waste initiative, many from West Side schools and organizations, will help lead digital literacy workshops for those who get new devices.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Young people working on Fresh Supply\u2019s End E-waste initiative at the ribbon cutting for Austin\u2019s first digital device collection box on July 16 | Jessica Mordacq <\/p>\n

\u201cAs a person who lives on the West Side in the Austin community,\u00a0I definitely feel that there\u00a0is an equity gap within our community.\u00a0I\u2019m definitely not seeing enough technology in schools or with kids who might need tablets, phones or computers,\u201d said Alexis Henderson, who\u2019s on Fresh Supply\u2019s media and communications team and attends Intrinsic High School downtown.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Chicago\u2019s 2023 assessment, 8% of the city, or\u00a092,000\u00a0residents,\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0own a laptop,\u00a0tablet\u00a0or smart phone. By repairing and redistributing electronic devices, Fresh Supply aims to get laptops to families so children can do homework at home and phones\u00a0to\u00a0young people to use in case of emergencies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSo many kids, their parents\u00a0can\u2019t\u00a0afford to have phones. And\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0a huge danger within today\u2019s society, not having a phone, because that one call can make or break your whole entire situation,\u201d Henderson told Austin Weekly News.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOur world is very centered on the internet, so we want people to be able to have access to that so they can live a better life,\u201d said QueAnna Sheppard, who attends Chicago Tech Academy on the Near West Side and is a part of Fresh Supply\u2019s IT and programming team. \u201cThe goal of Fresh Supply is to help people self-determine, help them be able to get on their own feet and be able to get access to job interviews and whatever they need that\u2019s online.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sheppard is helping develop the Westside Community Network on Fresh Supply\u2019s\u00a0FlowAmigo app<\/a>, an accessible hotline designed for areas with limited internet access. Through SMS text messaging,\u00a0FlowAmigo\u00a0allows locals subscribing to the Westside Community Network to share their concerns about E-waste, engage in outreach, and provides information about local E-waste collection hub locations and resources for those who\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0have access to the internet.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Founding Fresh Supply and\u00a0FlowAmigo\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0<\/p>\n

Five years ago, brother-sister duo David and Jasmine Jones launched Fresh Supply to work with young people to address environmental issues. Jasmine was teaching physics,\u00a0chemistry\u00a0and biology at Al Raby High School in Garfield Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always seeking to develop\u00a0curriculum\u00a0that I thought was not only culturally relevant, but justice-centered and community responsive,\u201d Jasmine Jones told Austin Weekly News.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fresh\u00a0Supply\u2019s first summer, some of Jasmine\u2019s students helped inform West Siders about energy incentives\u00a0they\u2019re\u00a0eligible for and how to apply for them. They did so through an app that David Jones II helped develop.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"David Jones II, BUILD CEO Bradly Johnson and, second to right, Jasmine Jones at the ribbon cutting for Austin\u2019s first E-waste hub at BUILD Chicago on July 16 | Jessica Mordacq <\/p>\n

David developed what he calls a \u201cproof of\u00a0concept\u201d for\u00a0FlowAmigo\u00a0with an app he developed while living in New Orleans when Hurricane Ida hit in 2021. Like\u00a0FlowAmigo, that app circumnavigated the internet \u2014 since power, and therefore Wi-Fi, was down for a month \u2014 and through SMS text messages, connected locals to appropriate resources, whether they needed aid or wanted to volunteer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the first\u00a010 days\u00a0after Hurricane Ida, the app helped collect over $100,000 in direct mutual aid for those\u00a0impacted\u00a0by the storm and routed requests for tens of thousands of meals and tarps to mutual aid groups across the country.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security approached David as co-creator of \u201cone of the largest relief depots in the City of New Orleans,\u201d he said. \u201cIt really gave us a new foundation to see that, if community had the right tools to do the good that they\u00a0sought, they could outperform the government and some of the more sophisticated agencies that we have. \u2026\u00a0immediately\u00a0my sights turned to trying to pair it with some of the things that Jasmine was already doing here in the community,\u00a0teaching\u00a0her kids in class about environmental racism.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a government, top-down program,\u201d Jasmine Jones said during the ribbon cutting for Ausitn\u2019s first E-waste hub. \u201cThis is not run by the City of Chicago. What makes it effective is if\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0grassroots organizing and the community\u00a0participates. We can only give out as many devices to close that digital divide \u2026 if we have people turning in\u00a0devices\u00a0they no longer use.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Fresh Supply\u2019s first E-waste hub was put at the Garfield Park Community Council, 4215 W. Washington Blvd. and was paired with the Garfield Park Community Hotline \u2014 a\u00a0number\u00a0locals could text to receive information and get connected with resources.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The hotline has since expanded into\u00a0FlowAmigo, a platform that allows community partners to send out information to subscribers.\u00a0FlowAmigo\u00a0allows users to use a visual design engine without any code for community outreach, in the same way Fresh Supply does for its End E-waste initiative.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can essentially give community members a digital kind of community card,\u201d David said. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0a no-code solution that allows our young people to not have to learn a bunch of complicated technical language or skills\u00a0in order to\u00a0start building right away.\u00a0They\u2019re\u00a0using their community intelligence to get inside of a tool\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0more accessible, to build solutions to keep us more connected and in the loop.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Johnell Willis, a Chicago Tech Academy student, helped to sketch and build the prototype for the physical hub to collect E-waste.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to do something in the community with my skills because\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0very hands-on. I like to be active in doing and building,\u201d Willis said.\u00a0\u201cI hope [people] actually put old devices in there and donate to us so we can upgrade,\u201d he said, adding that Fresh Supply hopes to install touch screens on the collection boxes.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe goal is to close the digital divide on the West Side of Chicago first,\u201d Jasmine told Austin Weekly News. \u201cBut we\u2019re trying to do a really good job of documenting the framework because we want to help close the digital divide on the South Side and beyond Chicago because E-waste is the fastest growing waste stream and it\u2019s only projected to grow.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to Chicago\u2019s\u00a02023 Digital Equity Plan, the West and South Sides have the lowest rates of home internet…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":947797,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5124],"tags":[5171,23947,381621,23949,960,381622,160265,20918,381623,12730,23950,5386,1818,18692],"class_list":["post-947796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago","tag-build","tag-build-chicago","tag-build-headquarters-5100-w-harrison","tag-build-inc","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-digital-equity-council","tag-e-waste","tag-electronics","tag-fresh-supply","tag-homepage","tag-homepage1","tag-il","tag-illinois","tag-smartphone"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116953317049061759","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=947796"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/947796\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/947797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=947796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=947796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=947796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}