Santa Cruz's economy runs on two different clocks: the academic calendar at UC Santa Cruz, which cycles through lab and department computers every few years, and the boardwalk-and-beach tourism season, which keeps point-of-sale systems, ticketing kiosks, and seasonal office gear turning over. Add in a dense strip of downtown small businesses along Pacific Avenue, and the city produces a genuinely mixed stream of retired electronics rather than one uniform type.
- University departments and research groups — retired lab computers, department servers, and networking equipment cycled out between academic terms.
- Tourism and hospitality operators — point-of-sale terminals, ticketing systems, and seasonal office electronics near the boardwalk and harbor.
- Downtown small businesses — routine desktop, laptop, and printer turnover for shops and professional offices.
Desktops, laptops, department servers, networking equipment, monitors, printers, POS terminals, phones, all battery chemistries, and hard drives with certified destruction, handled with the documentation university procurement offices and small business owners alike expect. Ticketing kiosks and card readers from boardwalk-area businesses go in the same load.
We time the pickup to your calendar: between academic terms for a department, after the summer season for a tourism operator. Everything else follows our six steps in order. Containers and staff training come first, then the pickup by our own crew, tracking under a ticket number, processing at our Sacramento facility with data handled first, and certificates and a report for your files.
No. California's universal waste rules keep most electronics and batteries out of household garbage. We don't offer residential service, and that includes student housing. Household electronics go to Secure Recycle, our sister company for consumers, which operates from our Sacramento address at 3921 Pell Circle; for most people in Santa Cruz County, a collection site from CalRecycle's list will be closer.
Santa Cruz pickups run under our ISO 9001, 14001, and 45001-certified process, with full chain-of-custody documentation for every load, from a single office printer to a department's worth of retired lab equipment.
Request a quote and tell us what you're retiring — a few office desktops or a larger lab or seasonal-business cleanout. We also serve nearby Watsonville and Salinas.
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.
