AKRON, Ohio — When News 5 first reported on stacks upon stacks of defunct electric scooters in Akron, our story took off.
When News 5 Anchor Tessa DiTirro posted her report on her TikTok page, it garnered millions of views and tons of calls to Summit e-Waste in Akron about the devices.
@tessontv These Spin scooters were headed straight to a landfill after being stored in a Cleveland warehouse. Now, a company in Akron is refurbushing them so they can roll again. #electricscooter #spin #spinscooter #recycling #tv #tvnewsreporter ♬ original sound - Tessa DiTirro
"The next day, we had people here — it was 4 degrees — and people lined up to buy them," said Ben Baker, Vice President of e-Waste Recycling Solutions. Since that report in January, the waiting list has grown to more than 2,000 people wanting to get their hands on the scooters.
"It's been pretty chaotic definitely when the story first aired, we were completely unprepared in January to meet the response we had for the scooters," said Baker.
At that time, the Summit e-Waste team had 100 scooters ready to go. They sold every single one. However, the massive piles of scooters remained stagnant while the team waited on circuit boards to come in from Germany.
Watch Tessa's report from January for more on how this company came into possession of the scooters:
"We were having a difficult time getting them through customs. We would send them and they would go back, and we had to divide them up into smaller and smaller packages until finally we were able to get them delivered through customs so we could start working on the scooters," said Baker.
One thousand circuit boards are now in Akron from Germany. And those massive piles are seeing some movement, one job at a time. Summit e-Waste staff are working around the clock to put a big dent in their waiting list.
"A lot of requests from California because the story was re-broadcast there. And we've had an equal amount of requests from the Los Angeles area as we have from Ohio," said Baker.
Meanwhile, an Akron tech company called Xadite started working on its own version of the circuit board to power up the scooters.
"It actually takes about three minutes for the machine to populate all the components, and then we bake it for about 10 minutes in kind of like a pizza oven," said Nathaniel Hawk, owner of Xadite.
"By the time we get through those, we'll be producing them locally, just next door here in Akron, and we won't have to order large amounts from overseas," said Baker.
Baker continued, "I had no idea that it would turn into something like this. I had an idea that it would be great if we could do it, but I didn't think it was ever going to actually happen."
Priority on the waiting list will go to folks from Northeast Ohio. If you're on the list, you can expect a call in the next few days. If you are interested in a scooter, you can call Summit e-Waste at 330-800-6657, or visit their website here.
