Hailing from Freehold, New Jersey, Albert Boufarah is the founder and CEO of SAMR Inc., a company whose expertise lies in the recycling and disposal of electronic waste (e-waste).
From an early age, Albert was embodied by the entrepreneurial spirit. As a young man, Albert founded not one, but two successful companies; one that dealt with traditional waste management, and one that dealt with the disposal of trees and other landscaping waste. Through his dealings in the waste management industry, Albert experienced an epiphany: The electronic devices that he routinely disposed of over the course of his workday contained valuable metals. After this realization, he began stripping these castaway devices and appliances down to their component parts, harvesting the rare and valuable metals that were housed inside, and selling them off to companies who had a demand for them. As time passed, Albert Boufarah became more and more convinced that this endeavor held great potential—not just for himself personally, but also for the welfare of the planet and its people by contributing to the reduction of e-waste that is improperly disposed of. He founded SAMR Inc. around the year 2000 to fully realize the vast potential of e-waste recycling and wholly dedicate his professional efforts to that pursuit.
More than twenty years later, SAMR Inc. is a global leader in the practice of recycling electronic waste in an environmentally-friendly manner. The company has been granted a Class D license by the state of New Jersey which enables it to work with various towns, organizations, schools, and businesses to provide legal, government-sanctioned e-waste recycling and data destruction services.
Because virtually all electronics contain metals and other elements that are toxic to living beings (along with polluting the air, water, and land), it is unwise and illegal in most states to dispose of them in traditional landfills. Because of this, many companies and organizations find getting rid of old electronics to be bothersome and overly complicated. Albert Boufarah created SAMR Inc. to simplify the process. The company disposes of e-waste with a minimum of hassle to its clients, and in a way that protects their personal and proprietary data as well as the environment. Anyone interested in learning more about SAMR Inc. is encouraged to visit the company’s official website.
How would you characterize the work your company does?
I think SAMR Inc. can best be characterized as an all-encompassing electronics recycling and data destruction enterprise. Simply put, we will accept anyone’s used, out-of-date, or unwanted electronics—through drop-offs, but in many cases, we will even pick them up—and then set to work extracting the toxic and valuable components they contain. Whatever can be salvaged, we sell to companies that make new electronic equipment, thereby at least partly saving them the need to mine new sources of rare metals from the earth. Whatever can’t be salvaged, we dispose of it properly and in an environmentally safe way, in accordance with strict government regulations. Before any of that is done, though, we take great pains to wipe any private or proprietary data from the devices and permanently destroy it. So, essentially, SAMR Inc. is a fully-licensed and accredited, eco-friendly e-waste disposal company that also provides privacy and security assurance.
How is your company different from other e-waste recycling companies?
Well, to begin with, there aren’t that many other e-waste recycling companies of our caliber. SAMR Inc. is one of the top firms in the United States in that respect. However, I think the main thing that differentiates us from the competition is our ability to guarantee the complete and total destruction of all personal and proprietary information from the appliances and devices we take in. Sure, there are other companies that will harvest e-waste and recycle the components for a profit, but there are very few equipped with a cutting-edge facility specifically designed to wipe data, let alone one furnished with equipment certified by the federal government and the armed forces. So, our unrivalled information security and privacy protection capabilities are what separates us from our competitors.
Are you able to separate your work life from your non-work life? And if so, how do you do it?
I think it’s really important to be able to step back at the end of a long day and occupy my mind with something other than work—although recognizing its importance and actually being able to do it are two very different things. It used to be like pulling teeth to get me to tear myself away from work. You can ask my family about that. However, I think I’ve gotten better at it over the years. I can now proudly say that I’m able to watch an entire movie without checking my phone about work-related matters!
Do you have any comments about the future of your industry?
Go green or go home. The waste disposal industry has necessarily been at the forefront of the environmental movement for decades. We’ve had to be. The planet is simply running out of space for the old type of ‘throw everything on the pile’ landfills. As such, this industry has been instrumental in implementing mass recycling initiatives, industrial-grade compost sites, and large-scale reuse programs. There’s no other way to say it: We, as a global society, have to be smarter about how we create our products and dispose of our waste. It may be the key to staving off disaster and saving our future.