Marshall Johnson is 86 years old, blind in one eye, and walks with a cane. Three days a week, he’s at the Hanover and King William Habitat for Humanity store in Virginia, taking apart donated electronics and appliances so the copper, aluminum, and usable components can be recycled and sold. Every dollar that program raises goes back to Habitat, and every pound of material kept out of the landfill is a small win for the environment.
Marshall isn’t guessing his way through this. He spent his career as a product designer at Black & Decker and Home Depot, so he understands exactly how these things are built. “I’m just innately curious about, how do people make things?” he says. Fellow volunteer Mark Adams has a simple message for anyone clearing out a garage: don’t take this stuff to the dump, bring it in, and people like Marshall will happily spend their time taking it apart. Marshall also delivers food to a church food pantry, so his week is fuller than most.
Here on the Suncoast, we have Habitat ReStores and electronics recycling options close to home, and plenty of us have a closet or garage full of dead gadgets that could be doing some good. What’s the oldest piece of electronics hiding in your house right now?
