Deer Park-based Guzu recycles electronics

HesamMeshkat, Pano Stavarkas and Cal Amir were not yet born when the first Earth Day was observed on April 22, 1970.

But the three have found their way to the environmental movement -- and they have found that it is indeed green, as in cash! The company they started, Guzu Inc., in Deer Park, will celebrate its first anniversary this Earth Day. Guzu began with four employees, now has 14, and is likely to have 30 by the end of this year.

Privately held Guzu does not release sales or profit figures. But Meshkat, the chief executive, said revenue has been growing at 17 percent or more a month.

Guzu resells used electronics. What's unique about its approach is that whatever comes in -- computers, BlackBerrys, iPads, video games or "anything with a cord," as Meshkat says -- is put back together as well as possible and sent out to the market again. The refurbished products are sold on eBay and Amazon.com. The products that are really irreparable are sold for parts to domestic refurbishing plants.

"Our main aspect is to revamp products to the best degree we can," Meshkat said "We find a new home for things."

Customers can go on the company's website, guzu.com, and search on the homepage for the electronic item they wish to sell. They will receive an immediate price quote for their goods. Guzu emails a free shipping label to mail the products to the company. Payment is sent by PayPal or business check, as the customer wishes. For each order it receives, Guzu donates $1 to American Forests, a Washington, D.C.-based conservation organization, to plant a tree.

Chief financial officer Stavarkas said over 5,000 orders have been processed on the site since Guzu opened for business.

Guzu also arranges to recycle products at companies nationwide and has signed up 85 businesses. Guzu contacts a local pickup company, which collects the items and transports them back to Deer Park, where they are recycled or resold. It also operates a program, Cash for Education, where schools can set up recycling drives and receive money back. The schools and students turn in their old electronics. Guzu determines the value of the products, pays the school what it determines the wholesale value is, and then pays another 10 percent of the selling price. So far five schools -- none yet on Long Island -- have signed up.

Meshkat, 27, had been in the video game business before starting Guzu; Stavarkas, 35, was with an international electronics exporter, and Amir, 33, head of business development, was an investment banker.

"There weren't hundreds of millions of phones being made" back in 1970, said Stavarkas. "It's pretty obvious why companies like ours are gearing up and growing."