Computer Recycling in Los Altos
Electronics recycling for Los Altos businesses and residents, backed by two decades of Bay Area service and a direct history in this city. GreenCitizen operated one of its earliest drop-off centers right here in Los Altos — at 4500 El Camino Real — and continues to serve the community today through business pickup and convenient drop-off at our Burlingame EcoCenter.
We are open from Monday to Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM. (Closed on Major Holidays)
74,616
Business Customers
Served
413,874
Individual Customers
Served
No appointment is needed for drop-off recycling. Just come to our Burlingame EcoCenter to recycle your computers and electronics.
Where to Find Us?
GreenCitizen, Inc.
1831 Old Bayshore Hwy Suite 2, Burlingame, CA 94010
- +16504938700 Extension 103
- info@greencitizen.com
Office Hours
Monday to Friday
10:00 AM to 6:00 PM
(Closed on Major Holidays)
Closed on Holidays: New Year, President’s Day, Memorial Holiday, Independence day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving, the day after Thanksgiving, Christmas, and the day after Christmas.
Los Altos: A Sustainability-Committed City With an Ambitious 2035 Target
Los Altos is a city of approximately 30,600 people in Santa Clara County, situated on the western edge of Silicon Valley between Mountain View and Cupertino. Incorporated in 1952, the city grew from an agricultural community of apricot orchards into one of the most sought-after residential addresses on the Peninsula — known for its walkable Downtown Village, tree-lined streets, and a community that consistently demonstrates genuine engagement on civic and environmental issues.
The city has been working on climate commitments since 2013, when it adopted its first Climate Action Plan targeting a 15% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020, using 2005 as the baseline year. Los Altos didn’t just meet that target — it more than doubled it. By 2018, the city had achieved a 40% reduction in carbon emissions compared to its 2005 baseline — well ahead of schedule and well beyond the stated goal.
That result was formally recognized in 2022. Los Altos received four Institute for Local Government (ILG) Beacon Program Spotlight Awards for its voluntary reductions in greenhouse gas output for the period covering 2015 to 2018. These included Platinum-level awards for both Agency Greenhouse Gas Reductions and Community Greenhouse Gas Reductions at the 40% reduction level, a Platinum award for Agency Natural Gas Savings at the 30% savings level, and a Silver-level award for Sustainability Best Practices.
Building on that foundation, the City Council adopted an updated Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (CAAP) in March 2022, setting a new target of carbon neutrality by 2035. The CAAP identifies 15 strategies and 68 separate actions grouped across eight focus areas. Because fossil fuels for transportation and energy account for roughly 96% of the city’s GHG emissions, the CAAP emphasizes electrification of buildings and transportation, reduction in vehicle miles traveled, and expansion of active and shared transit options.
The CAAP also addresses climate adaptation — preparing the community for wildfires, droughts, extreme heat events, and air quality pressures that affect the broader region. Additional measures already on the books include an ordinance banning single-use plastic and disposable foodware, a tree protection ordinance, and ongoing programs to support residential EV adoption — including the city’s annual Living Electric Fair, which brings together resources for residents considering the switch to electric vehicles.
Los Altos is also part of Silicon Valley Clean Energy (SVCE), the community choice energy program serving Santa Clara County jurisdictions, meaning the electricity powering most Los Altos homes and businesses is already sourced from clean energy. That context makes intentional electronics disposal — keeping toxic materials out of landfills and ensuring responsible downstream processing — a natural complement to the sustainability choices Los Altos residents and businesses are already making.
California’s Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003 gives that disposal obligation a legal structure as well: covered devices including computers, monitors, and televisions must be managed through proper certified recycling channels rather than discarded with general waste.
GreenCitizen in Los Altos: A Relationship That Goes Back to the Beginning
Los Altos is not simply a city GreenCitizen serves — it’s one of the cities where GreenCitizen built its foundation.
When founder James Kao opened GreenCitizen on Earth Day 2005 with a mission to make every day Earth Day, the challenge he identified was straightforward: responsible electronics recycling had to be more convenient for everyday consumers. GreenCitizen opened a drop-off center in Los Altos at 4500 El Camino Real — one of the company’s earliest locations — giving Peninsula residents a local, accessible option for responsible e-waste disposal at a time when that kind of resource was rare.
That Los Altos EcoCenter, along with later locations at 161 Homer Ave and 3180 Park Blvd in Palo Alto and 2500 W El Camino Real in Mountain View, helped establish a model for what community-based electronics recycling could look like across Silicon Valley.Â
Today, all service is consolidated at our Burlingame EcoCenter, approximately 24 miles from Downtown Los Altos via El Camino Real or US-101 North — a direct and familiar route for anyone who has driven between Los Altos and the Peninsula.
GreenCitizen has now served more than 74,000 Bay Area businesses and more than 413,000 individual customers, with over 33 million pounds of electronics recycled. Our proprietary GreenCitizen Total Accountability Management System (GTAMS) assigns each major item a unique asset ID and tracks it through the full recycling chain. We work exclusively with US-based recycling partners certified to R2 or e-Stewards standards, and for devices containing sensitive data, we offer destruction options aligned with DoD 5220.22-M and NIST SP 800-88 standards.
For Los Altos customers, that means working with a recycler who was already here when this city’s sustainability journey was just getting started.
Acceptable & Non-Acceptable Items for Electronics Recycling
Accepted
Laptops
Desktops
Servers
Monitors/ TVs
Networking Equipment
Tablets/ Smartphones
Computer Components (Hard Drives, Circuit Boards, Keyboards, etc.)
Office Electronics (Printers, Fax Machines, Paper Shredders, etc.)
Kitchen Appliances (Toasters, Blenders, Microwaves, etc.)
Stereo Equipment (DVD Players, VCRs, Receivers, etc.)
Styrofoam (#6 Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) ONLY)
Console Video Games (Xbox, PS3, Wii, etc.)
CD/DVDs
Cables/Cords
Toner/ Ink Cartridges
UPS Batteries (SLA Only)
Not Accepted
Bottles/ Cans
Furniture
Polyurethane
Large Appliances (Stoves, Washers, Dryers)
Non-Rechargeable Batteries (Alkaline, Carbon Zinc, Disposable Batteries)
Light Bulbs (Incandescent and Fluorescent Bulbs)
Items containing liquid mercury (Thermometers and Thermostats)
Smoke Detectors
Styrofoam #4 Low-Density Polyethylene foam (LDPE/PELD)
Hazardous Waste (Paint, Motor Oil, Sharps, Bio Hazardous Waste)
Medical Electronics (Bodily contact devices such as Glucose Sensors)
Business Electronics Pickup for Los Altos Organizations
Los Altos has a commercial presence built around its seven shopping districts and small-business character — professional practices, medical and dental offices, financial services firms, tech-adjacent consultancies, real estate offices, specialty retailers, and businesses operating out of home offices in residential neighborhoods. All of these generate retired electronics, and GreenCitizen’s business pickup service is designed to handle them without disruption to daily operations.
Free Pickup for Qualifying Business Loads
Pickup fees are waived when the inventory includes at least 5 qualifying items combined. Qualifying items include laptops, desktops, servers, enterprise networking equipment such as switches and routers, phones or tablets 4 inches or larger, and LCD or LED monitors.
Pickup Suited to How Los Altos Businesses Are Structured
Los Altos has no large corporate campuses or industrial yards. Most businesses here operate from storefronts, professional office suites, mixed-use buildings along El Camino Real and State Street corridors, or home-based settings. Our pickup service is built to match that scale:
- Small professional or medical practice upgrades
- Retail business technology refreshes
- Financial and legal office equipment retirement
- Downtown Village storefront IT cleanouts
- Home-based business equipment turnover
- Recurring recycling for businesses generating equipment on an ongoing basis
Pickup requests are submitted online. Items should be accessible at ground level or a staging area before our team arrives. We confirm logistics and vehicle requirements based on what you’re recycling.
Data Security for Business Electronics
Los Altos businesses handling client financial records, medical information, legal documents, or other sensitive data can use GreenCitizen’s certified data destruction options for retiring storage devices.
We offer software-based data sanitization and physical hard drive destruction, both following methods referenced in DoD 5220.22-M and NIST SP 800-88 standards. Certificates of Destruction are available for devices processed through GTAMS — providing the paper trail that compliance-conscious businesses and professional practices often need.
Verified, US-Based Processing
All items collected from Los Altos businesses go to US-based, R2 or e-Stewards certified recycling partners. For Los Altos organizations that already track their sustainability commitments against CAAP goals, this offers a verifiable, documented path for electronics disposal — not just a receipt.
Everything went great yesterday. Your guys were super professional and took care of everything for us. I’m sure that we will have more for you in the near future.
I have nothing but praise for their whole operation. From the easy to use website to even great, friendly pickup staff.
Your crew provides such a high level of service. It all went very smoothly!
Electronics Drop-Off for Los Altos Residents
Los Altos is a city of established households, long-term residents, and active homeowners — which means electronics accumulate over time: laptops from last year’s upgrade, monitors replaced by flatscreens, tablets that have been sitting in a drawer, audio equipment from a decade ago, desktop towers that haven’t been powered on since a router was replaced. GreenCitizen accepts all of it at our Burlingame EcoCenter, with no appointment needed for standard drop-off.
Please note that a drop-off form is required when recycling a television or computer. You can complete it on our website before arriving or at the center during drop-off.
A Familiar Drive from Los Altos
Our Burlingame EcoCenter is approximately 18 miles from Downtown Los Altos — a straightforward drive north on El Camino Real to Millbrae, or up US-101 North to the Millbrae exit. From there, follow signs toward Old Bayshore Highway, turn onto Old Bayshore Highway, then turn at Cowan Road and enter the first driveway on the left. We are located behind the 1831 Old Bayshore Hwy building, across from New England Lobster Market and Eatery.
Pro Tip: Enter “GreenCitizen, Inc.” into Google Maps or your GPS for direct routing.
Drive-Thru Drop-Off, No Appointment Needed
Our intake process is built for speed and simplicity:
- Pull into the designated loading zone
- Our team comes out to help unload and sort items
- Any applicable fees are confirmed before processing begins
- Most drop-offs are completed in under 10 minutes
If you are recycling devices that may contain sensitive data, our staff can discuss data handling options at the time of drop-off.
Many Items Are Free to Recycle
Computers, laptops, monitors, tablets, servers, and televisions are free to recycle at GreenCitizen. Other items carry a per-pound recycling fee that covers the processing and handling costs for materials that are more complex to break down.
For drop-off recycling, these are the items that are FREE to recycle and can be dropped off at the GreenCitizen Recycling Center/Eco Center in Burlingame.
Note: All Macbook EFi, Device Enrollment Program, and Remote Management Locks Must Be Removed
- Desktop computers
- Laptops
- Servers
- Tablets
- Monitors
- Network switches
- TVs
And here are the items that cost $1.00/pound to recycle.
- Cables/cords
- CD players and Walkmans
- Christmas lights
- DLP Projector TVs
- Fax machines
- Remote controls
- Heaters
- Ink/Toner
- Keyboards
- Microwaves
- Printers
- Miscellaneous electronics
- Scanners
- Stereo equipment
- VCRs
- DVD players
- Speakers
- Vacuum cleaners
- Fans
- Toasters
- Blenders
- Coffee makers
And here are the items that cost $6.00/pound to recycle.
- CDs
- Cassette tape
- Vinyl recycling
- DVDs
- Floppy disks
- VHS
- 35mm slides
- DLT/LTO
- Film negatives
It’s great to have such a well-run organization in our community to help us with all of our old electronics, especially laptops, which have sensitive information.
They were awesome. I was helping clean my mother in laws garage out. There was one tv that was literally falling apart. No problem here. We dropped off a couple tvs, a monitor, coffee machine, an old speaker, all for around 11 dollars. We rounded up to $15 to help them continue their excellent recycling service. They were friendly helpful and have a drive through. We are customers now! Good location as well.
The staff at Green Citizen were incredibly informative, helpful and courteous.The process of dropping off computers and hard drives for destruction was so quick and simple. They have an efficient set up. I highly recommend them and I will definitely be going back to them when I have additional items to recycle. It’s an impressive organization.
Frequently Asked Questions About Computer Recycling in Los Altos
Yes. GreenCitizen serves Los Altos businesses and residents through our Burlingame EcoCenter drop-off location and our business pickup service. Los Altos is within our 35-mile Bay Area pickup radius.
Yes. GreenCitizen operated a drop-off center in Los Altos at 4500 El Camino Real — one of our earliest locations, which opened in 2006. Today, all Bay Area service is consolidated at the Burlingame EcoCenter at 1831 Old Bayshore Hwy, Suite 2.
Yes. No appointment is needed for standard drop-off. Our Burlingame EcoCenter is open Monday through Friday, 10 AM to 6 PM. A drop-off form is required when recycling a computer or television — you can complete it on our website before arriving or at the center.
Approximately 18 miles, via El Camino Real north or US-101 North to the Millbrae exit. The drive is typically 20–30 minutes under normal traffic.
Yes, if the inventory meets our pickup requirements. Pickup fees are waived when the load includes at least 5 qualifying items combined — laptops, desktops, servers, enterprise networking equipment, phones or tablets 4 inches or larger, and LCD or LED monitors. Los Altos businesses and qualifying home offices within our service radius are eligible.
Yes. We offer software-based data sanitization ($5 per drive) and physical hard drive destruction ($20 per drive). Certificates of Destruction are available for an additional $5 per unit. All data destruction follows standards referenced in DoD 5220.22-M and NIST SP 800-88 guidance.
Yes. Los Altos's Climate Action and Adaptation Plan identifies waste reduction and responsible materials management as part of the path to carbon neutrality by 2035. Recycling electronics through a certified, accountable recycler — rather than disposing of them in the general waste stream — directly supports those goals. GreenCitizen tracks every major item through GTAMS and processes all equipment through US-based, R2 and e-Stewards certified facilities.
Yes. GreenCitizen works exclusively with recycling partners certified to R2 (Responsible Recycling) and e-Stewards standards. These certifications require rigorous environmental, safety, and data security practices and confirm that all equipment is processed domestically rather than exported overseas.
No. GreenCitizen is an independent, for-profit electronics recycling company. We are not affiliated with the City of Los Altos or any municipal or county recycling program. We serve Los Altos as part of our broader Bay Area service area.