Grossmont Center E-Waste Event May Have Brought in 90,000 Pounds

Perhaps the most highly promoted electronics recycling event in La Mesa history brought in as much as 90,000 pounds of material Saturday and Sunday—and something they didn’t expect.

“A local disgruntled resident came by our event and ‘returned’ an event recycling sign that did not belong to us,” said Phi Phan of Greenview Resource Management, which handled the event at Grossmont Center hosted by the La Mesa Chamber of Commerce.

“He assumed that all e-waste recycling signs were ours when it clearly said a different organization name and location on it—besides the fact that it looked nothing like our banners or signs.”

Phan, a senior event coordinator for Whittier-based Greenview, said a more accurate “total poundage” would not be available for about two weeks, but “I can only establish a guestimation of approximately 80,000 – 90,000 pounds.”

Although the e-waste event operated from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days, some people came at 8 a.m. and as late as 6 p.m. both days—while the 11-member Greenview crew was opening and closing the event in a parking lot near Fuddruckers restaurant.

Phan said a diverse crowd lined up their cars to drop off e-waste, including a police officer and military service personnel.

 “A participant’s car broke down while at the event, and we had to push it out of the way to allow continued traffic flow,” he said.

 “The event was quite successful despite all the other [recycling] events that occurred before our event.  There was an event the weekend before ours [at Lemon Avenue Elementary School]. … But regardless of their turnout, our event turnout was quite successful and I couldn’t be more pleased with how environmentally conscious the La Mesa community is.”

The day before the event, though, Sarah Westervelt of Basel Action Network, or BAN, phoned La Mesa Patch to comment on the story that appeared here Thursday.

Westervelt, policy director of the Seattle-based watchdog group, on Friday rebutted Phan’s suggestion that BAN is making money off its e-Stewards program, which certifies recyclers as following the highest industry and international standards on recycling the sometimes toxic e-waste.

“We’re not getting rich off this,” she said of e-Stewards, which includes a sliding-scale “marketing licensing fee” that helps pay for BAN office operations and its staff of about six.

She stressed than BAN is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit group. 

As of three weeks ago, she said, BAN boasted 35 certified locations that have become e-Stewards.

In fact, she says, some recyclers are using their affiliation with the e-Stewards program to bring in business from large companies such as Alcoa, which are steering their recycling to such certified businesses.

Westervelt said it was “no doubt a painful process for some” to make the changes needed in their operations to meet e-Stewards requirements, but said the upshot can be more business for recyclers.

She quoted one recycler as saying: “We’ve gotten the biggest accounts because of e-Stewards.”

For Phan’s part, the La Mesa event could lead to more local drives.

“A large amount of participants asked when and where we will be in the area again and/or when we are returning or how often we have these events,” he said.