TV and electronics disposal in Sacramento

The short answer

Electronics are regulated waste in this state. They do not go in the household bin and they do not go in the alley.

The per-visit minimum is $75, so one small TV on its own is a $75 visit. Two TVs at $62 + $62 = $124 and you are past it.

Why the old TV is still in your garage

Because every easy option said no. The bin will not take it. The bulky pickup schedule may or may not include it, depending on where you are in the metro. A charity will not take a CRT. And the thing weighs 90 pounds and lives on a shelf you cannot reach alone.

So it sits in the garage, and in Sacramento it sits in a garage that goes over 110 degrees inside for weeks at a time every summer. Which is the other half of the problem: a working TV stored through three Sacramento summers is not a working TV any more, so the option of giving it to somebody quietly expires while you are not looking.

The free routes, and what they require

• Certified e-waste collection sites. California has an established e-waste recycling system and there are collection points across this region. Most take consumer electronics from households. Check the site's current list and any per-visit limits before you drive out, and remember the industrial recyclers are out on the metro's edges, not in Midtown.
• Community collection events. Neighborhood associations and school groups around East Sac, Land Park and the suburban districts run these periodically. Good if the timing happens to line up. Not something to plan a move around.
• Retailer take-back. Some electronics retailers accept small items in store. Almost none take a large TV off your hands, and none of them come to you.
• Manufacturer mail-back. Works for phones and small devices. Does not work for a 65-inch panel.

All four require you to move the item yourself. That is the whole reason the $62 to $73 exists.

CRTs are their own category

The tube TV in the garage and the beige monitor next to it are the hardest items in this article. They contain leaded glass, they are heavy out of all proportion to their size, and they are the reason electronics disposal is regulated in the first place.

Do not break one. Do not leave one at a curb. Do not put one in an alley behind a Midtown flat expecting a scrapper to take it, because they will not, and the item stays there with your address attached.

A CRT television under 42 inches prices the same as a flat panel of the same size, $62. It just takes two people to carry, which is included.

Wipe your data first

Recycling is a materials process, not a data service. Anything with storage in it is your responsibility before it leaves the house.

• Sign out of accounts on smart TVs and streaming boxes, then factory reset. A smart TV holds your logins.
• Pull the drive from an old desktop tower, or wipe it properly.
• Laptops, tablets and phones: factory reset and remove activation locks.
• Printers made in the last fifteen years often hold scanned documents.
• Routers hold network credentials. Reset them.

Do this the night before, not while a crew is waiting in your driveway on Freeport Boulevard.

Worked examples

Living room upgrade in a Pocket-Greenhaven ranch. TV (42 to 65 inches) $68 + Entertainment Center / TV Stand $96 = $164.

Home office being broken up in Folsom. Computer Monitor $58 + Computer Monitor $58 + Box of Electronics $77 + Desk (Standard) $83 + Office Chair $61 = $337. The 3/8 truck rate is $338, so the itemized total wins by a dollar and the job books at $337.

Clearing a garage of old kit in Citrus Heights. TV (under 42 inches) $62 + Computer Monitor $58 + Box of Electronics $77 + Microwave (Countertop) $30 = $227, which is under the quarter-truck rate of $241, so it books at $227.

Offices, and the Sacramento version of it

This is a government town, and a government town has a specific e-waste profile: a lot of desktop towers, a lot of monitors, and commercial multifunction printers that three people cannot lift.

Copier / Printer (Commercial) is $97 each. A Cubicle / Office Workstation is $163. A Conference Table is $260. If a downtown floor near the Capitol is being emptied, price it item by item first, because office loads are dense and often come out under the volume rate.

Ask for a certificate of insurance when you book. Managed office buildings downtown will want one before the freight elevator is reserved.

Booking it

Photograph the screen with something next to it for scale, tell us which room and which floor, and the number comes back before a truck leaves. Carry-out from a wall mount is fine, just say so, and take the mount down first if you want it kept.

Frequently asked questions