Life Cycle Solutions is a company that clears data from unwanted company computers and also separates metals for recycling. At left, Lou Mannhardt takes a computer apart and separates the metals for recycling. JENNY SWIGODA / TIMES PHOTO
“We try to make use of everyone else’s waste. You never know what you’re going to find.”
— Life Cycle Solutions owner David Klayman
Life Cycle Solutions in Holmesburg bills itself as a data-destruction, e-waste-recycling and liquidation company.
About six months ago, the company acquired the assets of a beauty-supply distributor that went out of business. Its giant 65,000-square-foot warehouse includes more than 100,000 wigs, hairpieces and braiding hair.
“China has the Great Wall,” said owner David Klayman. “We have the great wall of hair. I own seven trailer loads of hair.”
Life Cycle Solutions, at 8701 Torresdale Ave., does a lot more than liquidate such items as upscale Remy-brand wigs.
The office and two warehouses are filled with televisions, antiques, computers, store fixtures, desks, cubicles, filing cabinets, vending machines, benches, fitness machines, whiteboards, neon signs, power strips, battery backups “and everything in between,” Klayman said.
“We try to make use of everyone else’s waste,” he said. “You never know what you’re going to find.”
One unique item is a 1902 cotton gin, and there are simpler objects, such as a jewelry-repair machine and projectors.
“We have parts that make things whole again,” Klayman said.
Data destruction is a big part of the business, and law firms are major clients.
In an effort to prevent identity theft, Klayman and his five employees will get rid of computer hard drives, and they’ll never be seen or used again. Even tags and labels will be removed. Fax machines and laser printers will be cleared of memory.
An alarm system and a 42-camera video-surveillance system add to the security.
“It creates peace of mind,” Klayman said.
Laptops are cleaned, refurbished and resold at prices well under market value, according to Klayman.
There’s also a charitable aspect to the operation.
Ten percent of wig and hairpiece sales will go to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a breast-cancer charity.
Some of the laptops have been donated to the Rotary Club of Northeast Sunrisers, which passes them on to the Philadelphia Children’s Foundation, a charity that tries to give needy kids access to computers. A recent computer drop-off event took place at Roosevelt Mall.
“We go through them with a fine-tooth comb,” Klayman said of all computers. “We separate the good and the bad. Some of them are three or four years old, but still have use.”
A big company like IBM might use a $2,500 computer until it’s time for an upgrade. A Life Cycle Solutions-rehabbed computer might go for as little as $225.
“It’s based on supply and demand, market value and what the cost was to do it,” Klayman said.
The wigs and hairpieces, worth $4 million but bought for a fraction of the price, also are deeply discounted. Klayman wants to move inventory in and out of his warehouses.
“I don’t want to sit with the materials,” he said. “People don’t need to spend four-hundred dollars on a desk. They can get it for seventy-five bucks.”
Recycling these materials, of course, is designed to reduce the amount of waste sent to landfills. The Life Cycle Solutions team will remove furniture, electronics and anything else in an office clear-out, all in the name of recycling.
“We’ll take the lightbulbs if necessary,” Klayman said.
They’ll also take some mementos to hang on the walls of the office. There’s a sign from the old Brooklyn Bagels shop, at 7412 Bustleton Ave., and an overhead picture of the former Tasty Baking Co. plant and surrounding area.
Klayman, 30, has been in this sort of business for 15 years. His experience includes securing items left after the closing of 14 Ames department stores all over the country.
The businessman has been at his present site for two years, and works seven days a week. He welcomes the public to check out the warehouse full of goods, or they can visit the Life Cycle Solutions Web site. The company will ship items anywhere in the United States and Canada.
Some of the heavy-duty work that takes place on-site includes stripping copper and preserving aluminum and precious metals.
The six-man operation is performing the kind of remanufacturing not seen that much anymore in the United States.
“We’re keeping jobs here and not shipping the process overseas,” Klayman said. ••
For more information, call 215–882–8161, visit www.drlifecycle.com or check out the Life Cycle Solutions Inc. page on Facebook.
Reporter Tom Waring can be reached at 215–354–3034 or twaring@bsmphilly.com
