“Civicorps E-collection services are a wonderful complement to our refurbishing operation. They are efficient, transparent, and collaborative in their approach. We look forward to partnering to provide a robust solution to the e-Waste stream in the East Bay!” – Seth Hubbert, Executive Director, Oakland Technology Exchange West
Civicorps is proud to announce its new E-waste program, which launched this spring and has already collected 5 ½ tons of E-waste! Our Recycling Coordinator Jim Madden spearheaded the effort to kickstart this new program for our Recycling Social Enterprise by purchasing our new box truck, conducting assessments on the required Universal Waste Safety training as well as the facility compliance with Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and California Occupation Safety & Health Agency (Cal OSHA), developing marketing materials, helping design a website for our Recycling Social Enterprise, writing Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and organizing curbside pickups and community drop-off events.
After mailing out marketing fliers to our 700 Bottles & Cans Recycling Fund (BCRF) accounts, we received 10 requests for curbside pickup! Current customers can request an E-waste pickup through our new website. In addition, through our job training program at Civicorps Recycling Social Enterprise, we are training two young adults to drive the new box truck and collect the E-waste in a safe manner.
Civicorps also hosted a two-day Earth Day drop-off event in our parking lot and a one day drop-off event at the Whole Foods in Berkeley. Thanks to our partnership with Conservation Corps North Bay, we collected 14 Cathode Ray Tubes (CRTs) and 32 Covered Electronic Devices (CEWs) amongst many other E-waste items. We look forward to partnering together on future events.
Civicorps has also partnered with Oakland Technology Exchange West (OTX), who accepts donations of computers, monitors, printers and peripherals for refurbishment, to accept their outflow of E-waste. We have signed an MOU with Oakland Unified School District to partake in their first ever IT clean-out. Together OTX and Civicorps, will work with 88 Oakland schools to remove obsolete and broken E-waste. OTX will pick what they accept for refurbishment and Civicorps will take the remainder.
In addition, we are creating an MOU with the City of Union City to be there sole source E-waste collector. Under this MOU, Civicorps will also partner with their local non-profit recycling hauler to co-sponsor two drop-off events and may also run two additional city-wide drop-off events on our own.
Civicorps is thrilled to have E-waste collection as part of our business plan and we look forward to growing this program to serve more businesses, schools, and families throughout the East Bay. Together, we make the East Bay look good!