Stephen Levin

Electronics recycling in charlottesville #buildinpublic #reuse then #recycle

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

I’m swapping dashboards for dumpsters - of electronics.

After a career optimizing ops, data, finance, and more in software land, I’m building an electronics recycling biz, Control Alt Recycle, right here in #charlottesville. And I'm going to #buildinpublic

Why?

[Stephen Levin 💻 ♻️ @smlevin11]

Last week I won the Piedmont Pitch competition for @ctrlaltrecycle - Always awesome to get a chance to meet other local businesses, get out in front of potential customers, and come back with some extra money to buy new shelves for the warehouse!

Thanks to @CentralVASBDC for the opportunity!

If you want to recycle your computers or other electronics, reach out. We'll pickup for businesses with lots of stuff, or you can drop off personal items at our warehouse in town.

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

When a local computer repair shop needed to clear out months of accumulated inventory, they dropped over 600 pounds of circuit boards in one load! 🖥️

Our process:
✅ Chuck it in the back until we have an inventory sorting day.
✅ Eventually sort out the CPUs, Ram, Cards, Motherboards, etc
✅ Sell the working stuff, ship the rest to boardsort for reclamation.

This is what sustainable electronics recycling looks like at scale.

📍 Control Alt Recycle - Charlottesville, VA
🔒 NIST-compliant data destruction & ITAD services
🌍 Reuse first, recycle responsibly

Need electronics recycling or IT asset disposition? Visit our website or call for a quote.

#ElectronicsRecycling #ITAD #EWaste #CircuitBoards #Recycling #Sustainability #Charlottesville #TechRecycling #ComputerRecycling

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

As someone who just started vibe coding post-opus 4.5, trying to go back and use an older or cheaper model is rough. I end up having to get opus to fix the stuff that other models botch.

I was pretty disappointed at both codex and xAI models.

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

Spent Dec 31 #vibecoding an ebay listing tool. 4 hours in and it already does a better job than the contractor I had doing it. Still needs some fixes, but WOW for the first day.

Didn't quite realize how powerful the vibecoding toolset is for smbs until I spent a few days building 3 different internal tools for my business.

It's seriously going to accelerate the heck out of businesses who learn to use it well but you need the company specific context.

#ai #claudecode #eBay

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

Got no-showed by a buyer I came in after hours to meet. Lesson (re-learned): off-hours is deposit only.

Silver lining: folded a mountain of boxes for next week’s shipments 🤪

#Entrepreneurship #SmallBusiness #Operations #Charlottesville #ITAD #EWaste #buildinpublic

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

No windows 11 on old spinning drives 🙄 had to reinstall an SSD and now this thing runs so smooth!

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

One of my favorite feelings in this biz - when someone recycles a $250 computer because of 1 bad stick of ram.

Feels good to fix it up and make a quick sale.

[Dr. Jon Slotkin @slotkinjr]

As a neurosurgeon I care a lot about road safety.

By now you’ve probably seen @Waymo’s stunning safety results (like 91% fewer serious crashes). But they didn’t just publish data headlines. They released the raw CSV files and data dictionaries.
I did a much deeper analysis. A fascinating story emerges when you analyze how they’re achieving this.

This isn’t incremental improvement - it’s categorical. We’re looking at the potential elimination of traffic deaths as a leading cause of mortality.

The intersection breakthrough: Waymo has essentially solved intersection crashes, with 95% fewer injury incidents than human drivers in the same locations. That’s transforming the deadliest driving scenario.

The national math: If every US vehicle performed like Waymo, we’d prevent 33,000-39,000 deaths annually and save $0.9-1.25 trillion in societal costs. Even partial adoption at 27% would save ~10,000 lives per year. In terms of magnitude, this would be the equivalent of eliminating every pedestrian death nationally in a year.

The physics signature: Here’s what fascinates me: 47% of Waymo’s contacts involve less than 1 mph delta-V. They’re not just avoiding crashes; they’re converting unavoidable incidents into gentle bumps. It’s like having physics itself on your side.

We’re not talking about marginal safety gains. The data represents a fundamental shift from harm reduction to harm prevention.

The methodology matters: I used their dynamic geographic benchmarks (comparing like-for-like road conditions) and verified the findings hold across San Francisco, Phoenix, LA, and Austin. The safety advantage actually increases in more complex urban environments.

Link to raw data below….

Notes on my approach:

Analysis based on 96 million miles of Waymo Rider-Only (RO) data through June 2025, utilizing Waymo's dynamic geographic benchmarks to compare Waymo Driver performance against human drivers under similar road conditions and operational design domains.

The projections for national impact (deaths prevented, societal costs) involve several assumptions. Given Waymo's zero reported fatalities, the direct serious injury reductions were mapped to national fatality statistics using established NHTSA-derived ratios that correlate serious injury crash rates with fatality rates. This extrapolation assumes that Waymo's observed serious injury prevention capability would translate proportionally to fatality prevention. Societal cost savings are estimated by applying average per-fatality and per-injury economic costs (e.g., medical, lost productivity, quality of life) as published by NHTSA, scaling these national averages to the projected number of avoided fatalities and injuries based on Waymo's safety performance. These figures represent the potential annual impact if the Waymo Driver's safety profile were widely integrated into the national fleet.

@ethanteicher

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

@mhp_guy I love it.

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

Literally "hanging our shingle" with a sign on the door at the new location. It's a small thing, but feels good! #buildinpublic #smallwins

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

USPS taking 7 days to get packages processed through center 1 hour away 🤦‍♂️

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

I wonder if these zoo boxes actually fill up? 🤔

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

After going back and forth with the diaper person, they're claiming that my 5lb shipping label got swapped onto a 30lb box 🤦‍♂️

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

Ebay selling is much more of an emotional roller coaster than it should be. My 2nd biggest sale ever this morning sandwiched in between 2 completely ridiculous claims: "I bought a computer and you sent me diapers" and "item not received" when the USPS tracking shows delivered.

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

Anyone else building a local business? My biggest challenge right now is finding a warehouse space with the right zoning in my small city!

The space I'm currently using occasionally rains inside

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

A good day in the electronics recycling business is when you fill up the truck with laptops!

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

@steevevakees Sure is! I still use it everyday!

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

When you pick up a load of pallets from the coffee shop, you have to buy a coffee, right? ☕️

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

@steevevakees Go steeve!

[Stephen Levin @ctrlaltrecycle]

Anyone need to read a 5.25" floppy?