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Mario Insenga started The Refinishing Touch in 1977 to restore furniture for commercial businesses in the hospitality and university sectors. The company provides furniture refinishing and re-upholstery and modification services.

Recently, The Refinishing Touch expanded to include television recycling services in response to the needs of the company’s hotel clients converting to flat-screen TVs.

Insenga says, “We noticed that clients were often throwing their old TVs into the trash just because of the hassle involved with recycling them. But we wanted to add more value, and it was a natural extension to start a program to recycle our clients’ old TVs as an integral part of our refinishing program so they no longer have to worry about disposing of them.”

Insenga has more to say about his company’s expansion into TV recycling:

Q. What materials do you specialize in and why did you choose them?
A: The core material we deal with day to day is wood. However, our business is really about sustainability, encompassing whatever elements and materials our clients—whether hospitality providers, colleges or government organizations—need. This is why we launched our TV recycling capability; it’s a natural extension of our services and provides clients with a “one-stop shop” from furniture refinishing and re-upholstering to recycling related electronics.

Q: What new services or initiatives have you introduced recently?
A: We recently launched our TV recycling program to accompany our armoire conversion services. When we do these conversions, we’re displacing older, bulkier TVs to make way for new flat-screen models.