Responsible Computer & Electronics Recycling for the San Francisco Bay Area
Tracked. Certified. Never exported.
Recycling you can actually prove — every day since Earth Day 2005.
Every item, tracked to its end.
Our proprietary tracking system follows each device from pickup to final, U.S.-based processing — so nothing is landfilled or exported.
Who We Are
GreenCitizen provides computer and electronics recycling for businesses and residents across the San Francisco Bay Area. From our Burlingame EcoCenter, we handle secure business pickups and convenient drive-thru drop-offs — backed by full chain-of-custody tracking and certified data destruction.Â
For over 21 years, we’ve proven a simple focus: recycling done right means recycling done locally, transparently, and accountably. Every major item we handle is tracked with a unique GreenCitizen Asset ID, every drive is wiped to federal standards, and nothing we collect is shipped overseas or sent to a landfill. When you hand us your old technology, you don’t have to take our word for what happens next — we can show you.
Our impact in the Bay Area
Tracked totals, not estimates — the proof behind 21 years of responsible recycling.
33,950,761
Pounds of Electronics Recycled
74,748
Business Customers Served
413,981
Individual Customers Served
397,916
Items refurbished & reused
99.7%
Positive Feedback from Re-Use Customers
4.9
Google star rating
4.9
Yelp star rating
21 Years
Recycling responsibly
It started on Earth Day.
On April 22, 2005, GreenCitizen opened its doors in a modest space behind the now closed old Fry’s Electronics in Palo Alto, California, with a single idea: make recycling electronics so convenient, transparent, and trustworthy that doing the right thing becomes the easy thing.
That idea came from our founder, James Kao. After years as an engineer and executive at companies like Oracle, HP, and IBM, he saw firsthand how much technology the industry threw away — and where too much of it ended up. After watching the documentary Exporting Harm: The High-Tech Trashing of Asia, he spent two years traveling the world to study the e-waste crisis at its source: attending the Basel Action Network conference, meeting with European Union officials and scientists, and touring recycling systems across the U.S., Taiwan, Japan, China, and the Philippines. He came home with a conviction that the Bay Area — the birthplace of so much of the world’s electronics — needed a better answer than shipping its problem overseas.
GreenCitizen was that answer. Over the years, we’ve operated EcoCenters across Palo Alto, San Francisco, Berkeley, Mountain View, Santa Clara, Los Altos, and Burlingame. Today, we operate from our flagship Burlingame EcoCenter, where the mission is exactly what it was on day one: to make every day Earth Day.
Make every day Earth Day.
That’s been our mission since 2005 — and everything we do works toward it. In practical terms, it means building a sustainable metropolitan model that gives individuals and businesses the most convenient and accountable ways to reuse and recycle electronics. The model needs to be replicable to all major metropolitans in the US and around the world. The core of this system is our developed GreenCitizen Total Accountability Management System (GTAMS), which has been in place for 20 years, with continuous software updates for better operations and incorporating new technologies like AI and robotics in the plan.
We’re 100% self-sustaining — operating without government funding or donations. And we reinvest in our community: through our GreenCitizen for Public Schools initiative, we dedicate staff time to refurbishing computers and electronics for local public schools, helping bridge the digital divide for students who need it most.
Every device recycled the right way is a small action with a big impact. We’re here to make that action easy — for you, and for the planet.
Three easy ways to recycle responsibly
On-site pickup
Schedule a pickup for office cleanouts, IT-room refreshes, or data-center decommissions. Professional teams, full asset tracking, certificates on request.
Drive-thru drop-off
No appointment needed. Pull up to our Burlingame EcoCenter, and we’ll help unload and process your e-waste on the spot. Available for both residents and businesses.
Mail-in recycling
Outside the Bay Area? Use our nationwide mail-in service to recycle responsibly from anywhere in the country.
Anyone will take your
electronics.
Few can prove where they went.
Here’s what sets us apart from other recyclers.
Every item tracked (GTAMS)
Our proprietary GreenCitizen Total Accountability Management System tags each item with a unique asset ID — so nothing is landfilled or illegally exported, and businesses get audit-ready ESG documentation.
Processed in the U.S. — never exported
We partner exclusively with R2- and e-Stewards-certified downstream vendors, all based in the United States. Your electronics are recovered responsibly at home, supporting domestic green jobs.
Certified data destruction
We follow NIST SP 800-88 Rev.1 and DoD 5220.22-M. Drives are securely wiped; any that can't be sanitized are physically destroyed. Certificate of Destruction available on request.
Reuse before recycling
Recycling is the floor; reuse is the better outcome. Our technicians test and refurbish working devices — giving roughly 400,000 items a second life at a 99.7% positive rating.
Built for business compliance
We provide a Certificate of Insurance (COI) for commercial building pickups, with professional teams handling office, IT-room, and data-center cleanouts — fully inventoried and documented.
Fast pickup when timing matters
Need it gone quickly? We offer Same-Day Pickup (request before 11 AM) and Immediate Pickup (within 24 hours) for time-sensitive moves, decommissions, and cleanouts.
All laptops & computers, free.
A few of the items we accept free of charge at our EcoCenter:
If it plugs in, we'll recycle it — just ask about anything not listed here.
Burlingame EcoCenter
Burlingame, CA 94010 (near SFO)
Drive-thru drop-off · no appointment needed
James W. Kao
James W. Kao is an experienced software startup CEO with a track record of delivering results in both startup and Fortune 500 environments.Â
Prior to founding several software startups, he played key engineering, Sales, marketing, and consulting roles at HP, IBM, and Oracle.
Over his career, Mr. Kao has raised more than $24 million in funding for several software startups. In 2000, he founded Managize, a supply-chain management company later acquired by Escalate, Inc. Before Managize, he founded and led eALITY in 1996, a business-process enterprise software firm, and served as CEO of The RightSizing Group in 1994, a data-warehouse consultancy whose clients included Wells Fargo Bank, Charles Schwab, Intuit, Mervyn’s, and TransAmerica. That engineer’s instinct — find the problem, build the system, prove it works — is exactly what GreenCitizen runs on today.
Kao graduated from UCLA with a degree in maths and computer science, he went on to earn an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
Trusted, and recognized for it.
GreenCitizen’s approach to responsible recycling has earned recognition as a Certified B Corporation — joining a global community of companies (including Patagonia, Method, and Etsy) that meet rigorous standards for social and environmental performance — and a “Best for the World” honoree for its environmental impact.
Our work has been featured by major news and media outlets, including:
Ready to recycle the responsible way?
Residents can drop off at the Burlingame EcoCenter — no appointment needed. Businesses can schedule an on-site pickup, with Same-Day and Immediate options available.