Santa Cruz County has two economies a few miles apart. Around Santa Cruz itself, UC Santa Cruz cycles through lab and department computers, the boardwalk and beach tourism season keeps point-of-sale systems and ticketing kiosks turning over, and Pacific Avenue's small businesses retire the usual office gear. Around Watsonville, packing houses and cold-storage facilities run scanners, refrigeration controls and battery-powered equipment that most residential haulers aren't set up to take.
- Santa Cruz: university departments, tourism operators and downtown businesses.
- Watsonville: agricultural packing and cold-storage operations.
The same route reaches Scotts Valley and Soquel, and continues south to Salinas in Monterey County.
Desktops, laptops, department servers, monitors and TVs, copiers and printers, phone systems, POS terminals and kiosks, networking gear, refrigeration and cold-storage control electronics, UPS units, all battery chemistries and hard drives all qualify for a business pickup. Forklift and equipment batteries from packing houses should be listed separately so we bring the right containers. The services involved are electronic waste recycling, battery recycling and secure data destruction.
A university department and a packing house go through the same six steps. On site, we set up containers, train the staff who fill them, and make the pickup with our own crew. Afterward, the load is tracked under a ticket number, processed at our Sacramento facility with drives wiped or destroyed before reuse, and closed out with certificates and reports. Pickups run under our ISO 9001, 14001 and 45001 certifications.
Timing is where the two halves of the county differ. University loads usually wait for a term break; tourism businesses and packers tend to clear equipment in their off-season. Tell us which calendar you're on.
Our pickups are for businesses, schools and agencies, and we don't offer residential service. Residents should use a local collection site from CalRecycle's list. Household electronics can also go to Secure Recycle, our sister company for consumers, at our Sacramento address, 3921 Pell Circle. Electronics and batteries can't go in the trash in California, because they're universal waste.
Is there a minimum pickup size?
Minimums depend on the route and the material. A stop on a scheduled Central Coast run can usually take a smaller load than a special trip.
Do seasonal businesses get the same paperwork?
Yes. Every load gets a ticket number and a certificate of recycling, and destroyed drives get a certificate of destruction, stored in our client portal.
Request a quote with your city and equipment type, whether you're a downtown Santa Cruz office or a Watsonville packing facility.
No obligation. We respond same business day.
Reviews
A little bit off the beaten track in Natomas, but Modern Waste quickly and efficiently helped me recycle my broken Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries at a reasonable $/lb fee (Sac county e-waste will not accept these items). Ramiro and Vincent were very friendly and helpful.
Chris was awesome! He came in and picked up all of the e-waste we had ready for him. He was polite and professional throughout the entire process. He handled the equipment with care, including the site equipment that was already in place. I am very happy with his service and appreciate the great job he did.
Aaron and Vincent were awesome, excellent customer service!
Great guys, excellent customer service, highly recommend!
Polite, quick and easy.
Chris from modern waste was the most outstanding respectful person I ever met my life when he was done he offered to sweep the floors. He offered so much even though he was limited on time he went out of his way and he’s over beyond best guy I ever met thank you so much for your service services Dan ITG.
