Friday, January 16, 2015

Solving the illegal E-waste and metal pick up conundrum

Electronics purgatory

Pacifica Tribune/Jean Bartlett, Features Corespondent, 1/13/15.  "Illegal flyers continue to paper local neighborhoods." photograph by Jean Bartlett.

No, we're taking more modern stuff
"Free E-Waste & Metal Pick Up" the flyer reads, "Monday morning, 6 a.m." The flyers were placed on various homes throughout the lower Linda Mar Area. Two days later, residents in East Sharp Park found similar notices taped to their mail boxes for a Wednesday pickup. The flyer, which offers no company name, announces it will — "Pick up any kind of metal. No limits".

"What these people are posting is illegal," said Chris Porter, general manager, Recology of the Coast. "There is no business name identified on the flyer, there is no business license, and who they sell the merchandise to is unknown. This has been going on for several years and most likely there is more than one group behind it." 
Doesn't quite look
like the Recology truck

....  Lorenzo Hines, Jr., assistant city manager, will be working with Porter to address the problem. In addition, Pacifica Police Capt. Dan Steidle is also involved.  "This is in violation of the Municipal Code," Steidle said. "And we are working proactively with Recology on this matter." ....  Both Porter and Steidle advise residents to ignore the flyers. This simple step may make the criminals weary of Pacifica."  Read article.

References - Recology of the Coast/Pacifica.  Recology recycling hard,  City of Pacifica/Business electronics recycling/Goodwill. 

Note photographs:  Moses from Retroworks/Good point ideas blog; electronic waste from Prepper Chimp; truck from Connecticut, Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. 

Posted by Kathy Meeh

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

So what's the difference between people coming by the house and picking up e-waste and the drops off at the schools?

Chris Porter, General Mgr of Recology of the Coast said...

Both are breaches of the franchise agreement. I will be reaching out to the schools to have their events at the recycling yard. If you are reading this and you are a coordinator or know the coordinator of these events, please contact me.

Steve Sinai said...

I have to admit that I've dropped off electronic equipment at one of these events because Recology wouldn't take an old TV set without me paying them $20.

Anonymous said...

So much for the good old double standard.

Recology screws the residents with the highest garbage bills in the county and when some company puts the screws to Recology they run and bitch and moan to the city.

Pot kettle black.

Anonymous said...

"I'd love to drop my old electronics off at your school fundraiser, but I can't because I'd be violating Recology's franchise agreement."

Something nobody has ever said or ever will say.

Anonymous said...

259 Recology has every right to complain if they have a contract with the City making them the sole provider of these services. The city is negligent in enforcement of its own business regulations.
Where's the love for our trash hauler? My opinion of them has changed and I think they do a great job. I'm paying less than I did 4 years ago for same household. It's not a charity they're running.

Anonymous said...

Sinai were you unable to use the bulk pick-up service Recology provides? Conditions apply, but there's no extra charge.

todd bray said...

Steve, FWIW, older TV's have screens that are full of lead. An older tube style TV would be considered toxic waste not e-waste, (so I was told by SSF Scavenger a decade ago when I was trying to stop the CS Scavenger MRF from being built at the end of my street). If Chris P wants to get technical about her franchise agreement I'm sure a citizens committee dedicated to studying the contract and all it's ins, outs and whatnots could come up with several violations by Recology. I'm game if you are.

Anonymous said...

One of their garbage trucks burned up the other day.

Anonymous said...

Chris Porter is wrong and apparently hasn't read the franchise agreement or the muni code.

Section 4.02(G) of the Recology franchise agreement states that "E-Scrap" is not covered by the agreement.

There's nothing in the muni code that prevents you from donating your recyclables to anyone either.

Steve Sinai said...

3:45, I've used the bulk pickup service for broken-down exercise machines. I never thought about it for the TV. I think it was a 27-inch CRT, and I brought it over to the recycling yard. They wouldn't take it unless I gave them $20, so I brought it back home.

It's not clear to me why would it cost $20 if I dropped it off at the recycling yard, but free if I'd used the bulk pickup service.

I wouldn't be surprised if the people I eventually gave it to resold it on EBay. Otherwise, it probably had its guts torn out in China, Mexico, or the Philippines.


Toddster, I'm game. My understanding is that just about anything electronic these days has some kind of toxic metal in it.

Anonymous said...

Sinai, I think they would have picked up your old TV or at least told you yes/no when you called to schedule the pick up. Chris Porter would know. I make use of that service every year to keep the junk from piling up.

Chris Porter said...

How long ago did you attempt to bring a TV/CRT to the yard? There is no charge for that. There is no charge to have a TV picked up as a bulky item or any other electronic equipment. You are either talking about Coastside Scavenger or you were out of free bulky pickups and requested a special pickup. If you had brought this to the yard there would have been no charge. We are attempting to work with the schools regarding these dropoff days because these people that schedule the dropoffs are out of the area and give the schools a minimal of the amount they make on selling the scrap so I would like to coordinate with them to have the dropoff at our yard and come up with a fair price to our local schools. All the citizens of Pacifica would then benefit on the rate structure by keeping this material within the City of Pacifica.

Anonymous said...

What a shocker! Recology has a profit motive to keep the e-waste business in Pacifica. Local schools might also benefit more with Recology rather than transient out-of-town firms. Fine by me because I prefer the money stay in Pacifica. Sweeten the pot for the schools, Ms. Porter! How about the city enforces business permits with a little more enthusiasm--particularly when the business has no "brick-and-mortar" here.

Anonymous said...

An E-waste event right now at Ortega school. 9 to 2 I think. Flyers also have a phone number if you need your items picked-up. Info was shared via NextDoor.

Steve Sinai said...

"How long ago did you attempt to bring a TV/CRT to the yard? There is no charge for that."

Maybe a year-and-a-half or two years ago.

Anonymous said...

People still have CRT TV'S??

Anonymous said...

That was Stinger Sinai working undercover as a decoy.

Chris Porter said...

Had to be longer than that Steve.
Thanks for letting me know about Ortega School. I will call them on Tuesday. Does anyone know who runs these events? PTA, school, athletic department? Also, one or our trucks didn't burn up but a citizen put ashes in their trash and caught the waste on fire. We were able to contain it, with help from the fire dept, with no damage to the truck.

Anonymous said...

Chris, if you're on NextDoor you can still pull up the notice for the 1/17/15 Ortega School event under the "General" tab. It was posted twice by two local women. If you can't find it, here's what it said in part.

Ortega Elementary School
E-Waste Collection Fundraiser

It also offers pick-up of donated items by calling John Hall at 650-703-3596. No organization mentioned but seems like the school should know who's raising funds on their behalf on school property.

Steve Sinai said...

"Had to be longer than that Steve."

Could be, Chris.

When did Recology stop charging $20 for recycling TV sets?

Anonymous said...

Parca takes tv's under 32 inches!