The charter of this website is to collect unwanted or unused USB flash drives from end-users and turn them into something others can use.

RecycleUSB teamed with SugarLabs.org to provide free flash drives to children without computers. The SugarLabs project provides technology which can be loaded to a USB drive and turn the portable device into a portable operating system.

The SugarLabs technology is based off Linux and is a simple operating system which runs directly from the flash drive in conjunction with using the hardware of a host computer. It is easy to understand the USB doesn’t have hardware such as a processor for computations, a graphics card, ethernet connection and so many other things associated with a personal computer. Thus, the Sugar on a Stick is a personal operating system which uses the hardware of a computer.

The personal operating system gives the child a private computer for their own work. The Sugar on a Stick allows the child to keep their content and information to themself while still providing them with a personal computer which can be used anywhere.

In the United States it is very common for a household to own a personal computer, but in many other countries this is not the case. The portable operating system allows a child without a home computer to have a portable operating system which can be used at a public library, school or internet cafe.

Today, a large number of recycled USB drives have shipped to SugarLabs. These drives have been wiped clean of any data through a secure process, formatted and tested. The GB capacities range from 2GB all the way to 64GB capacity.

This recycle program is done at no charge. To donate or recycle a USB drive is free. The RecycleUSB.com website has teamed with Nexcopy who provides the equipment to securely erase all data on a drive, format the drive and test the drive. Recycle USB then ships the items to the corporate office of SugarLabs (New York) for distribution throughout the world.

Anyone can donate, start here.

Thank you everyone for this month’s donated USB flash drives. We received two packages via FedEx and you really don’t need to send the USB flash drives to Recycle USB by that shipping method. Of course this is your choice, but this is an expensive way to ship. There is no rush because once the drives are received, they are put into a bin for erasing of data, formatting, then read/write testing for quality control – making sure the drives work properly. The USB drives can sit in a bin for up-to a month before you begin the work… so there is no need to rush USB drives.

Big thanks to the following:

• Lydia Richard – Nashville, TN
• Gary Lerude – Nashua, NH
• Cheryl – Stillwater, MN
• Chun Yung – Deep River, CT
• Meredith Slifkin – Somerville, MA
• Goertzel Family – Bellevue, WA
• S. Wong – Chappaqua, NY
• Justin Matthews – Salinas, CA
• Whartan Family – Dallas, TX
• ?? – San Gabriel, CA
• Dignity Freedom Network – Nampa, ID. These folks set the bar for the number of USB flash drives sent in and donated for USB recycling. You can see from the picture below, the three stacks in the back of the red bin, are what Dignity Freedom Network sent in – probably 75-100 flash drives. Dignity Freedom Network also sent a very nice letter explaining what their organization does – honorable work for sure! Thank you.

Thank you everyone for this month’s donated USB flash drives. Looks like the cleaning out of the home office generated some recycled USB drives for the cause. Much appreciated!

Do you see the “thumb” drive in the picture! Crazy what type of shapes, colors and body styles we see!

• Susannah Burrows – Richland, WA
• Shelly Hong – Amsterdam, NY
• Rosman – San Diego, CA
• ??? – Ypsilanti, MI
• Ben & Barleen – Modesto, CA
• Tanaka Bellini – Pine Mountain, CA
• Kristie Kim – Raleigh, NC
• Heather Guiber – Los Angeles, CA (Music for the visual media www.franciument.com)
• Steve Ramstad – Bremerton, WA
• Debbie Eshelman – Highland, CA

It is easy to be lazy. It takes work to do the right thing. With spring pretty much here it appears some folks have done a good dead and cleaned out their desk drawers and office cabinets to make some USB flash drive donations. Recycle USB will take your unwanted or un-used flash drives and put them to good use. We don’t recycle them in the traditional sense… giving to a recycling center, but rather, re-purpose the drives so less fortunate can benefit from your good deed. All drives donated to our website get digitally erased and formatted and passed along to SugarLabs.org. This is a non-profit organization who re-purposes flash drives to be sent around the world to less fortunate children who could really use them. You can learn more from their website: www.sugarlabs.org

Since our last post in late 2020, we have received a large number of drives from 21 different people from all around the country. Here is a lost of those folks: (sorry if we misspelled your name)

• Julianne Waley – Urbana, IL
• Jerome Flores – Washington, DC
• Mr Mrs McIntire – Boston, MA
• Missy Berg – Urbandale, IA
• Thomas Schady – Chicago, IL
• Kristen Kieffer – Carneys Point, NJ
• Erin Meadows – Conroe, TX
• Mr Mrs Openheim – Arlington, VA
• Lucy Vo – San Diego, CA
• Mr Mrs Melton – Plainfield, IN
• Katie Luttringer – Redwood City, CA
• Ria Michelle – Miami Beach, FL (Fashion blogger @ www.riamichelle.com)
• Mary Beth Barrett-Newmand – Evanston, IL
• Peter Henderson – Toronto, CAN
• Karen Tzong – Cerritos, CA
• Chris Reynolds – Burbank, CA
• Andrew Summers – Rockford, IL
• Kim Flaherty – Cansas City, MO
• Kathrine Michael – Washington, DC
• Vibha Agarwala – Safety Harbor, FL
• Lauren Cunningham – Sandy Springs, GA

Twenty people/organizations have donated their flash drives for recycling since our last post in September of 2020. Your time and effort to package up and ship off your unwanted flash drives is much appreciated. As we’ve said before, these drives will be cleaned up (formatted and data erased) from the donor with our flash memory copier equipment and repurpose the drives and sent to sugarlabs.org for re-use.

Here is the list of twenty who contributed since our last post:

• Ravi – San Mateo, CA
• Stephanie Shae – La Palma, CA
• Thomas Hearns – North Ridgeville, OH
• Feltault Family – Topsfield, MA
• K Nuss – Pacific Grove, CA
• Ryan Mitchell – Puyallupa, WA
• Gloria Yehilevsky – Poway, CA – Check it out: www.gloriaymusic.com
• Risan – Menlo Park, CA
• Jamie Schmidt – De Pere, WI
• Lily Kim – San Diego, CA
• Thomas Mielke – Flower Mound, TX (sounds like a nice place)
• Cathie Lee – Laguna Hills, CA
• M.T. Taglang – Bethleham, PA
• Kendra Lewis – Somersworth, NH
• Rooney – Naperville, IL
• Jocelyn Delmar – Kenmore, NY – Check it out: www.etsy.com/shop/paragraphloop
• Daniel Potts – Walton, KY
• Charles Hotchkiss – Everett, WA
• S. McMahon – Biscayne Park, FL

Today, more than ever, it’s nice to see people doing nice things for others. Today’s post is a thank you for those who’ve donated flash drives over the past six weeks. The drives really pilled up and we figured today was a good day to post some pictures and say “Thank You”

• Jackie Emerle – Sunnyvale, CA
• Suhas Madhiraju – Owings Mills, MD
• Olivia Miller – North Tonawanda, NY
• Jeremy – Canada
• Gloria Yehilersky – Poway, CA
• Jeff Pipen – Rockville, MO
• Ian Newman – Blackstone, MA
• Roberts – Littleton, CO
• Mr/Mrs Visconti – Washington, DC
• Mr/Mrs Nousen – Corvallis, OR
• Marie Manner – Minneapolis, MN
• Julie F – Seattle, WA
• Beth Renstrom – Sturgeon Bay, WI

Our last post about collected flash drives was June 12, 2020. Since that time, the following have sent in drives to help out. A big thank you for those who took the time to mail them in.

• Beth Deuer – Maineville, OH
• Aaron Christensen – Hutchinson, MN
• Taylor Durham – Los Angeles, CA
• Alice Grimmelsman – Denver, CO
• Paul Braatelien – West Chicago, IL
• J Mulqueen – Rey, NY
• Don Su – Houston, TX
• Gavin Chen – Redwood City, CA
• Jenny Martinez – Santa Monica, CA
• Ray Franz – Mundelein, IL
• Mr Milazzo – Midland, MI
• Hunter Gallahar – Houston, TX
• Travis Roberts – Knoxville, TN
• Hilpebrand – Atlanta, GA

Thank you everyone from the list below for donating flash drives. This blog section is a bit repetitive, thanking everyone for putting in some effort to recycle USB flash drives for a good cause, but it’s important to do so – Thank You! There was a nice blog post about what we do here, the article explains some additional options for what you might want to do with spare flash drives. The article is worth a read, if you have time – find it over @ Suite101.

Here is the list from the past six weeks for those who’ve donated:

• G Shirali – Leawood, KS
• J Ho – Kent, WA
• Unknown – Vail, CO [we included “unknowns” as proof the drives where received]
• N Eby – St. Louse, MO
• A Damron – Kerns, UT
• N Davis – Brownstown, MI
• Student Television Network – San Diego, CA

A little extra shout-out to Student Television Network as they drove up to Orange County and dropped off close to 2,000 flash drives. We are in the process on sanitizing all the drives (erase the data, format the device, insure they work) before passing them along to SugarLabs.org.

Thank you for those who donated flash drives the last couple of months. Per our routine, the donated drives will be sanatized with some techy erase function so if any data was on the drive, it will be 100% removed.

Here is a list of those who recycled their USB flash drives for a good cause:

• Unknown – Redondo Beach, CA
• Bristol Township School District – Levittown, PA
• MaryAnn – Unknown location
• P Brown – New York, NY
• Stadium Systems – Canaan, CT
• N Otfinger – Atlanta, GA
• Pamela Myers – Horsham, PA



RecycleUSB received a large shipment from Untion Sanitary District and included a nice company outline about what they do, here are those details:

The Union Sanitary District, founded May 27, 1918 is an independent special district which provides wastewater collection, treatment and disposal services to the residents and businesses of the cities of Fremont, Newark and Union City, in Southern Alameda County, California. We serve approximately 356,160 people.

Our Mission:

To safely and responsibly collect and treat wastewater, and to recover resources from process waste streams, while protecting human health and improving the environment in a way that benefits the Tri-Cities and all USD stakeholders.

‘Tis the season for giving and this month people gave! We didn’t do an actual count, but we are well over 1,000 flash drives for December 2019.

Special thanks to those include the following:

• A. Tabak – Brooklyn, NY
• Chu Chu – Brooklyn, NY
• Joanne Forster – Prairie, KS
• Duncan Bryant – Vicksburg, MS
• Shane K – Seattle, WA
• K To – Houston, TX
• Julie Vincenti – Naperville, IL
• Rheila Parker – Baltimore, MD

BioTel Research sent in a large batch of recycle USB flash drives. Much appreciated. As we state on our website if you include a note, we will post a mention to your company here.

BioTel Research has provided centralized cardiac monitoring and medical imaging analysis in more than 2,000 clinical trials, spanning 70 countries, and comprising all major therapeutic areas. Both big pharma and small biotech organizations rely on us to deliver.

www.gobio.com/clinical-research/