Residents dump off 80 tons of e-waste Residents dump off 80 tons of e-waste (December 19, 2003)

City planning second electronics collection for the spring
by Dolores Fox Ciardelli

The city's first electronics waste collection day held recently was a huge success, agree officials from the city and Pleasanton Garbage Service, and they are planning another one in the spring.

"We collected roughly 80 tons," reported Deputy City Manager Nelson Fialho. "We had over 1,300 cars, 280 per hour, three cars per minute."

This exceeded everyone's expectations, including those who were willing to make forecasts. "We had a little pool going," said Craig Higgins, support services superintendent for the city. "A bunch of us said maybe 400-600 cars. One lady from Pleasanton Garbage said 1,100, and we hit that at 1:30."

Although the line of cars backed from the city's Operations Service Center down Busch Road almost to Valley Avenue at times during the 8 a.m.-3 p.m. drop-off time, it all went smoothly. Vehicles stopped at the gate to show identification to prove they were Pleasanton residents and tell what they were dumping. Then they drove forward in two lines to have their electronics unloaded.

"The cars pulled in and Pleasanton Garbage was there to offload the vehicles," said Higgins. "It was like the Indy. They'd pull into the spot and people jumped all over the car."

"It went from one gentleman on a motorcycle to a moving van with probably over 30 computers," he added. "Councilwoman (Jennifer) Hosterman was there greeting people and thanking them."

Debbie Jeffery, recycling and education manager with Pleasanton Garbage Service, said more than 5,000 pieces of e-waste were collected that day.

She said they had visited the Castro Valley Sanitary District, which has a similar collection day, to find out what to expect and how to deal with the waste.

"We actually went out and looked at the facility to see the number of workers and how their traffic control was," said Jeffery. "That was a huge concern for us as well as the city. People said they never waited more than 10 minutes or so. Everyone was very appreciative."

"All of the material was delivered to a recycler," she said. "He either reformats the materials or recycles it."

Berkeley artist Michele Prod picked up the 20 or so cell-phone recharging cords that were collected. She plans to use them along with thousands of others in creating a piece of installation art at the Brian Gross Fine Arts gallery in San Francisco.

"Each time you switch (cell phone companies), you are creating waste that is toxic," said Prod. "I want to bring that issue out." She has created art from items confiscated at the San Francisco airport as a comment on all that is unrecoverable in our changed world after Sept. 11.

The Pleasanton e-waste collection day cost $45,000, said Deputy City Manager Fialho, based on a per-unit cost. This includes staffing costs, with two city employees on overtime and 35 workers from Pleasanton Garbage. The money came from Measure D funds.

Fialho said they are tentatively planning another e-waste collection day in the spring. If there is the same volume, it may be done twice a year.

"We want to expand so businesses have a chance to participate, and the school district and the city," he said.

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