GreenCitizen Celebrates 365 Days of Earth Day

As Earth Day passes, many people take a moment to think about the environment and what they can do to help it, from cutting back on energy use to reducing waste.

However, for one Burlingame man, worrying about reducing waste—electronic waste to be exact—is a full time job.

“Our slogan is….every day is Earth Day,” said James Kao, founder and CEO of GreenCitizen, a company that specializes in e-waste.

GreenCitizen works with businesses and individuals, helping them reduce their electronic waste through repair and reuse services, as well as safe recycling.

Before starting GreenCitizen, Kao graduated as a computer engineer from UCLA and worked for 20 years in the high tech industry, starting three software companies along the way. 

 It wasn’t until one Friday night in October 2002, however, that Kao was first introduced to the global electronic waste problem while watching a Bill Moyers episode on PBS focusing on the issue. The show inspired Kao.

Over the next two years, he took up the cause, traveling all over the world to places like Basel, Switzerland and speaking with European Union officials and representatives from companies like Philips and Toshiba.

“I found that most of the recycling effort is really an afterthought,” he said. “That’s what motivated me to start GreenCitizen…even from the first day, it was quite a special business.”

When customers first walk into any of the four GreenCitizen facilities—located in Burlingame, San Francisco, Palo Alto and Berkeley—they are greeted by knowledgeable staff and an eco-center entrance, full of information on global dumping, electronic waste, GreenCitizen’s educational outreach efforts and GreenCitizen business customers.

“A common thread in GreenCitizen [is] we don’t just hire people for their technical skills,” said Kao. “They must have passion.”

GreenCitizen staff members focus on the entire solution to electronic waste—the fastest growing segment of the country’s trash. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 2 million tons of electronics are tossed every year, with less than 20 percent being recycled and the rest ending up in landfills, where they leak toxins like lead and mercury into the ground and air.

The first step in reducing this problem, Kao said, is repairing objects to extend their useful lives.

When GreenCitizen receives electronics, staff tag each item, so whether the piece is fixed up and resold or donated, it can find its way back to GreenCitizen for proper recycling. This adds an element of accountability that Kao said is missing from the global dumping problem.

He said other companies that simply repair electronics contribute to “deferred dumping,” because without a tracking system, there is no guarantee the item will later be recycled.

“We’re the only company in the world that will track,” Kao said. “We need to understand how it’s going to get back to us.”

The staff also focuses on education. They visit schools and companies to discuss waste, and invite groups like Boy and Girl scouts to their facilities.

Since starting six years ago, GreenCitizen has served more than 10,000 businesses and 110,000 individual customers, most finding out about the service through word of mouth.

While the company normally receives items like cell phones, lap tops and televisions, it has been responsible for the disposal of items as unique as a security X-ray machine and classic turntables.

Although GreenCitizen normally charges 50 cents a pound for electric items, such as printers, the company is waiving its e-waste recycling fee through May 31 in honor of its sixth anniversary, commemorating the first center opening on Earth Day 2005 in Palo Alto. Items can be dropped off at any of the four facilities from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday through Saturday.

Right now, if you refer a friend or business to GreenCitizen or like them on Facebook, you’ll be entered to win an iPad 2 during the six year anniversary and Berkeley center opening promotion.