Join San Francisco Bay Area 74,794 businesses and 414,012 individuals who trust GreenCitizen for responsible computer and e-waste recycling with secure data destruction

Featured on  The New York Times Logo

Trusted by 480,965 Customers

Computer & E-Waste Recycling in the Bay Area

GreenCitizen is a certified electronics, computer, and e-waste recycling company serving the San Francisco Bay Area since 2005. We offer business pickup, drop-off at our Burlingame Eco-Center, and nationwide mail-in recycling — all with secure, certified data destruction. Every item is tracked end-to-end with our GTAMS system, so nothing is illegally dumped overseas and your old electronics never end up in a landfill.

GreenCitizen in Numbers

Individual Customers Served

414,012

Individual Customers
Served

Business Customers Served by GreenCitizen

74,794

Business Customers
Served

33,959,638

Pounds of Electronics
Recycled

398,323

Units of Electronics
Responsibly Re-used

1,600,000+

Annual Active
Website Visitors

Actionable Blog Posts Published

412

Actionable Blog
Posts Published

4,200+

Green Directory
Entries

Re-Use Users Feedback

99.5%

Positive Feedback from Re-Use Customers

Why Choose GreenCitizen?

At GreenCitizen, we streamline the process of e-waste recycling, particularly for computers, in a simple and environmentally responsible manner. Whether you’re unsure about how to dispose of your electronics or looking for efficient recycling methods, we provide tailored solutions. What makes GreenCitizen stand out is our commitment to tracking every single item our customers trust us to recycle.

We’ve developed a proprietary tool, the GreenCitizen Total Accountability Management System (GTAMS), to track items with unique asset IDs. The system enables us to monitor and track every item, ensuring that nothing is illegally dumped overseas, preventing harmful environmental and health impacts globally. Additionally, it guarantees a responsible demanufacturing process in the U.S., enabling us to recover valuable raw materials- saving energy and costs in the long run.

Whether it’s laptop recycling and desktop recycling, or safely destroying sensitive data, we’re your reliable partner for eco-friendly electronics disposal. Our services include secure data destruction for hard drives, CDs, DVDs, cassettes, floppy disks, and LTO/DAT/AIT/DLT data tapes, guaranteeing your sensitive information is permanently erased with minimal environmental impact.

Greencitizen Computer and Laptop recycling in San Francisco

What Our Customers Say

About Us

GreenCitizen provides computer and e-waste recycling for businesses and residents across the San Francisco Bay Area. From our Burlingame EcoCenter, we handle secure business pickups and drive-thru drop-offs — every item tracked end-to-end, every drive wiped to NIST and DoD standards, and nothing ever exported overseas or sent to a landfill.

Founded on Earth Day 2005, we’ve spent over 21 years proving a simple idea: recycling done right means recycling done locally, transparently, and accountably. As a company featured by The New York Times, Forbes, and Bloomberg, we don’t just ask you to trust us. We can show you exactly where your electronics went.

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Frequently Asked Questions

There are three ways to recycle with GreenCitizen. Residents and businesses can use the no-appointment drive-thru drop-off at our Burlingame EcoCenter (Mon–Fri, 10 AM–6 PM). Businesses can schedule an on-site pickup within a 35-mile radius of the EcoCenter — free when your inventory includes 5 or more qualifying items, with Same-Day (request before 11 AM) and Immediate (within 24 hours) options available. And anyone outside the Bay Area can use our nationwide mail-in recycling service.

We use the same standards-backed methods for individuals and enterprises, aligned with DoD 5220.22-M and NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 1. You can choose software-based data erasure for reusable drives ($5/drive) or physical destruction that crushes/shreds the drive for full unrecoverability ($20/drive); if a drive can't be securely erased, we upgrade it to physical destruction at no extra charge. A Certificate of Destruction listing serial numbers and methods is available for an additional $5/unit, and we also destroy phones/tablets ($35/device) and media tapes.

Every major item is scanned into our proprietary GreenCitizen Total Accountability Management System (GTAMS) at intake, creating a digital chain of custody from drop-off or pickup through final processing. Working devices are tested and refurbished for reuse first; the rest is processed by R2- and e-Stewards-certified vendors, all based in the United States. Nothing we collect is sent to a landfill or exported overseas, and businesses can request audit-ready ESG reporting showing weight diverted and material recovery.

We accept most electronics, including desktops, laptops, servers, monitors, TVs, tablets, phones, networking gear, computer components, cables, printers, small appliances, stereo equipment, and #6 EPS Styrofoam. We cannot accept loose batteries that aren't installed in a device, single-use/non-rechargeable batteries, light bulbs, mercury-containing items (thermometers, thermostats), smoke detectors, large appliances, furniture, or hazardous waste. For anything we don't take, our Green Directory helps you find a local drop-off by ZIP code.

All laptops, desktops, servers, monitors, TVs, tablets, phones, and network switches are recycled free at our Burlingame EcoCenter. Some peripheral and consumer items carry a fee — about $1.00/lb for things like printers, keyboards, cables, and small appliances, and $6.00/lb for media like CDs, DVDs, VHS, cassettes, and floppy disks. Any applicable fees are always confirmed with you before processing begins.

GreenCitizen serves the entire San Francisco Bay Area from our Burlingame EcoCenter at 1831 Old Bayshore Hwy, Suite 2, Burlingame, CA 94010 (near SFO), open Mon–Fri, 10 AM–6 PM. Drive-thru drop-off is open to everyone with no appointment, and we offer business pickups within a 35-mile radius (covering San Francisco, San Jose, Oakland, and the Peninsula). Outside that radius or the Bay Area? Use our nationwide mail-in service, or call (650) 493-8700 to discuss custom arrangements.

Yes. GreenCitizen supports business compliance at every step. We can provide a Certificate of Insurance (COI) for commercial building pickups — just share your property manager's requirements when scheduling. Every qualifying asset is serialized and tracked through our GTAMS chain of custody, and Certificates of Destruction (listing serial numbers and methods) are available for data-wiped or physically destroyed drives. For sustainability and ESG reporting, GTAMS generates audit-ready documentation. A Detailed Certified Report is available for $5/device.