Alliance member RecycleForce has secured a site in Indianapolis to build a new 102,000 sq. ft. facility that will double its electronics recycling capacity from 10 million to 20 million pounds and its reentry hiring services from 300 to 600 people annually.

RecycleForce provides transitional employment and skills training to newly returning citizens referred by Indiana’s corrections system, and its staffing arm, Keys2Work, helps these individuals access new job opportunities after their initial months of employment at RecycleForce.

During 16 years in business, the enterprise has operated in three different leased locations, and each move has been an expensive and disruptive process. At the new site, RecycleForce will own the land and build the new facility, which has a 13-month construction schedule. The project is being financed with a $13 million New Markets Tax Credit.

RecycleForce shreds consumer and business electronics and resells the recovered metal and plastic components into a variety of markets. A recent new supply channel is the growing stream of returned and recalled products from large distribution centers concentrated in Indianapolis.

Founder and President Gregg Keesling sees similarities in the way our society discards products and neglects individuals with criminal records. He notes that remaking both are at the heart of their second chance enterprise and says, “If we can reimagine our thinking around those two things, we can have a better world in many ways.”