Hazardous waste accounts for significant amounts of toxic waste in landfills. Items such as electronics, fluorescent bulbs and tubes, paints, pesticides, cleaning products, old medications, and other chemicals are illegal to put in the garbage or pour down a drain or gutter because they contaminate our soil, drinking water, and air.
Businesses may contact San Mateo County for more information on business hazardous waste disposal. Call 650.372.6200 or visit smchealth.org/VSQG.
Looking for how to properly dispose of a specific item? Check out RecycleStuff.org for a comprehensive database of drop-off locations for your hazardous waste!
Recology offers a free Language Line with over 170 different languages through our Customer Service Department. Please contact us for more information. You can also visit the San Mateo County Office of Sustainability for general recycling and waste reduction information.
- BATTERIES
- MEDICATIONS
- PAINT
- SHARPS
- MOTOR OIL
- E-WASTE
- TREATED WOOD
BATTERIES
Residential Curbside Battery & Cell Phone Collection Starting September 3, 2018, place household batteries (e.g. rechargeable, alkaline, button) and cell phones inside a sealed clear plastic bag, and place them on top of your closed black garbage cart on your regular collection day.
Apartment Battery & Cell Phone Collection Bucket Check to see if your building/complex has a designated area for battery and cell phone collection. If you don’t see one in a central location, contact your Property Manager who can request a free Recology Collection Bucket. Property Managers Establish a centrally located collection container at your property – a lobby, multi-use room, mailroom, or clubhouse – for residents to place their bagged batteries and cell phones, in a collection bucket provided at no charge by Recology San Mateo County. When you’re ready to schedule a collection, place the bucket in the mutually agreed upon collection area and call Recology San Mateo County to schedule your free pickup.
Drop Off Many local retailers also accept old batteries and cell phones for proper disposal. Please visit RecycleStuff.org for drop-off locations. You may also drop off batteries and cell phones, along with other electronics, at the Shoreway Environmental Center at 333 Shoreway Road in San Carlos. To learn more about battery disposal, click here
MEDICATIONS
When medications are disposed of in the trash or down the drain, they can end up in the wrong hands, or in our soils and waterways. Wastewater treatment facilities are not properly equipped to remove medicinal substances from the water. The result? A wide range of pharmaceuticals have been found in our rivers and lakes.
Drop Off
San Mateo County has many pharmacies (including all CVS locations) and local police departments that provide convenient take-back of unwanted medicines at no charge. Residents should call ahead to confirm hours of operation for locations. For a full list of locations and more information about the County’s Safe Medicine Disposal Program, please visit smchealth.org/RxDisposal
PAINT
San Mateo County has retailers that provide take-back programs at no charge. Residents can drop off both latex and oil-based paints at the locations below (operated by PaintCare), however, you may want to call ahead to confirm hours of operation and program parameters: Drop Off
- Grays Paint & Wallpaper, 601 Ralston Avenue, Belmont
- Dunn-Edwards, 3580 El Camino Real, San Mateo
- Hassett Ace, 282 Woodside Plaza, Redwood City
- Hassett Ace Hardware, 545 First Avenue, San Mateo
- Grays Paint & Wallpaper, 783 California Drive, Burlingame
- Outdoor Supply Hardware, 2110 Middlefield RWC, North Fair Oaks
For further information on this program, please go to PaintCare.org
SHARPS
Residents with medical conditions requiring the use of hypodermic needles are required to arrange for proper disposal. California law prohibits the disposal of “sharps waste” in trash or recycling containers. Home-generated sharps waste include: hypodermic needles, pen needles, syringes, lancets, and other devices that are used to penetrate the skin for medical purposes. Drop off
Contact your healthcare provider, local pharmacies, hospitals, or clinics to ask if they offer a collection program. Bio-hazard containers used to contain sharps waste are available for purchase at local pharmacies and some office supply stores. Visit San Mateo County Health Department or Flows to Bay for more information on sharps drop-off locations. Mail-Back Service For more information, check out CalRecycle’s website for Mail-Back Services.
MOTOR OIL
Did you know that just one quart of motor oil that is disposed of improperly can contaminate up to 2 million gallons of freshwater? Please do your part to properly recycle used motor oil and filters. Residential Curbside Collection
Place motor oil and filters next to your blue recycle cart for pickup on your regular collection day. You may request up to five one-gallon plastic jugs for your used motor oil and up to five zippered plastic bags for your used oil filters, at no cost. You may also use your own clear zip-top plastic bags and clear plastic containers for used motor oil, such as a one-gallon milk jug. Please be sure that lids on plastic containers are tightly sealed. If you are an apartment or condo tenant, please learn more about motor oil drop-off locations by visiting FlowsToBay.org/UsedOil.
E-WASTE
For more information on Electronic and Universal waste and how it is disposed of properly, please visit our E-Waste and Universal Waste page.
TREATED WOOD
Treated wood is any wood that has been treated with a chemical preservative to protect the wood against attacks from insects, microorganisms, or fungi. It is typically used in outdoor applications such as fences, decks, stairways, etc. Unfortunately, the State Dept of Toxic Substances Control Program governs the ways in which and where treated wood can be safely disposed of. To properly and safely dispose of treated wood waste visit the California State Water Recourse Board‘s list of approved landfills.