Goodwill Industries of San Diego County has joined forces with the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) to provide free, local and convenient ways for residents to dispose of Universal Waste. Goodwill is the first participant in the Take-It-Back Partnership from the county.
Representatives from both organizations met at the Point Loma Goodwill location, 3663 Rosecrans St., to kick-off the collaboration Sept. 20.
As of Feb. 9, state law prohibits the disposal of Universal Waste into the trash or into a landfill. Items falling under the new category of harmful trash include batteries such as alkaline, lead acid, lithium, mercury and nickel cadmium (Ni-Cd); electronic devices, such as cell phones, computer monitors, printers, cordless phones, CPUs, laptop computers, radios, telephone answering machines, televisions and VCRs; light bulbs, such as fluorescent tubes, high intensity discharge, metal halide, neon and sodium, but excluding incandescent light bulbs; and mercury containing items, such as gauges, switches, thermometers and thermostats.
The county Goodwill Industries will be accepting computers and computer related items only at all of their 24 San Diego County stores and free standing donation centers.
DTSC kicked off the Take-It-Back Partnership on Earth Day in April of this year. The department currently has a few hundred businesses involved in the partnership in Northern California, though participation in San Diego has been minimal to date.
“Now we’ve planted the seed in Southern California,” said Leonard Robinson, DTSC chief deputy director.
According to Michael Rowan, CEO of Goodwill Industries of San Diego County, joining the partnership made sense because Goodwill already takes in computers and other electronic items.
“People bring things to us anyway,” Rowan said. He explained that when Goodwill receives a computer they clear it, remove the hard drive and, if possible, sell it in their San Ysidro store. If it’s not useable, then employees disassemble it, sell the parts and recycle what is left over through their partnership with IMS Recycling Services, San Diego’s largest full-line recycler.
“It also provides jobs “” all the handling and disassembling and selling, it creates jobs, which is what we’re all about,” Rowan said.
According to Robinson, DTSC is hoping that Goodwill’s involvement will encourage other businesses to join the partnership.
“As an agency we have to do a better job of communicating to the consumer, ‘You can’t put this in the trash.’ The manufacturers have to use less toxic materials, so it’s a communication thing,” Robinson said. “We’re looking at this thing to be growing exponentially over the years.”
Robinson explained that in the past, county-organized drop offs for household hazard waste have been largely ineffective due to the long distances many residents must drive to reach a single location.
“With Goodwill, people have a giving heart anyway and this kind of fits in with their daily commerce,” Robinson continued. “That’s going to be the key to the future to get the consumer engaged. Some people will go out of their way, but most people want it to be along the way.”
For more information on Goodwill, visit www.sdgoodwill.org. For more on the Take-It-Back Partnership, visit www.dtsc.ca.gov.