Electronic drop bins installed in Medina, Montville Township

Medina County residents now have two additional locations to drop off obsolete, broken and/or unwanted electronics, as Summit e-Waste Recycling Solutions recently installed bins at Medina Habitat for Humanity's ReStore and at the Montville Township Safety Services Complex. Summit e-Waste is a full-service electronics recycling, data and document destruction and IT asset disposition facility in Akron. While the business is located in Summit County, there are drop bins throughout Northeast Ohio, including Summit, Stark, Portage, Huron, Tuscarawaras and Medina counties. In Medina County, there are now four locations. The locations include: Medina County SPCA, 8790 Guilford Road in Guilford Township. Medina Habitat for Humanity's ReStore, 233 Lafayette Road in Medina. Montville Township Safety Services Complex, 6665 Wadsworth Road in Montville Township. Northside Christian Church, 7615 Ridge Road in Sharon Township. "We have a heavy emphasis on the refurbishing and remarketing of items over scrapping," Summit e-Waste Vice President Benjamin Baker said. While Summit e-Waste may have started about seven years ago, Baker said its concept had been built up over time. Baker served in the military, and after returning to the Akron area, he chose to use his GI Bill and go to college for computer programming. Around the same time, he and his wife were moving in together, consolidating what they had. "She gave me this box of cords and cables and old electronics and told me to get rid of it," Baker said. "I didn't want to throw it away, but I didn't know what else to do with it. So, I decided right there I was going to start an electronics recycling company, and we just built it from there." Summit e-Waste employs a team of technicians who fix up the dropped-off electronics and return them to use, Baker said, which avoids scrapping them and adding to the landfills. While the drop bins at Medina Habitat for Humanity's ReStore and at Montville Township Safety Services Complex are new, Summit e-Waste has been in Medina County for several years. "Medina is a great county with a lot of people that are excited about recycling," Baker said. Besides the drop boxes, Summit e-Waste holds community events to encourage people to bring their electronics for drop off. Technicians are at the event for free hard drive shredding to ensure data security. In 2025, there were two events held at the Wadsworth Public Library, one in April and another in September. Following the events, Baker said a donation was made based on the amount of waste collected. "The amount of waste that's generated by technology progressing, things breaking and how cheap electronics are now, it's very important to try and get some of that waste not going straight into the landfill," Baker said. To learn more about Summit e-Waste and any upcoming events, visit summitecycle.com. Contact reporter Sara Crawford at (330) 721-4063 or scrawford@medina-gazette.com.