In fact, it was brought to Reece by its customers, not the other way around. The customers were looking for a responsible way to dispose of electronic waste, which, gone unchecked, can end up in piles of toxic dumps usually located in offshore outposts like China and Nigeria.
“(My husband) Randy and I have traveled and we’ve seen it,” owner Terri Reece said, referring to such dumping sites.
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“The last thing you want is a 17-inch monitor showing up on the shores of Beijing or something,” said Greg Holland, recycling specialist for Strawflower Electronics.
Holland said that Strawflower recycles cables, computers, cell phones, adapters and household batteries. “We do a lot of those,” he said. “We probably do a 55-gallon container per week of batteries.”
The first step for many businesses that seek to address e-waste is to decide whether some materials are actually waste to begin with.
Both at Reece and Strawflower, about 10 percent of what they receive is still in good working order, and could be put to use by a secondhand customer. A common example is a computer with a couple of years under its processor. In those cases, Reece employees erase the computer’s hard drive before seeking out a home for the computer at a variety of local nonprofit businesses with whom Reece works.
The remaining 90 percent of Reece’s e-waste is picked up by San Jose-based ASL Recycling. Most e-waste drop-off sites on the Coastside have similar arrangements with third-party companies that either disassemble, process or redistribute the materials to other companies. Strawflower makes “under $100,000 per year,” Holland said, from selling specific types of e-waste to processing companies that pay quarters on the pound.
Ocean Shore Hardware has a “GreenCitizen” kiosk in its store where customers can drop off batteries, small printer cartridges, cell phones, compact discs and DVDs. Ocean Shore pays GreenCitizen, which is based in Los Altos, to pick up the materials.
“We do 98 percent of the work — collecting them, sorting them and making sure they’re recycled properly,” said CEO James Kao. “If we don’t go there once a week, it would be overflowing.”
If people can’t take their e-waste into a local business, they could arrange to have it picked up at home.
Allied Waste, which handles the majority of waste services on the Coastside, will pick up old computers and TVs if customers give them a call — and pay a fee.
Otherwise, according to Evan Boyd, general manager for Allied Waste in San Mateo County, customers have to wait for twice-annual special e-waste pick-ups in April and October. The next pick-up is next week.
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