UPDATE: First West Seattle recycle/reuse/shredding dropoff event of the year

| Environment | Puget Ridge | West Seattle news

9:20 AM: We’re on Puget Ridge to check out what’s happening in the first hour of this morning’s recycling/reusing/dropoff event in the north lot of South Seattle College (6000 16th SW; WSB sponsor), presented by the West Seattle Chamber of Commerce and West Seattle Junction Association. For starters, the line of cars stretches about a block past the SSC south entrance. Updates to come.

9:45 AM: Once you’re in the lot, things appear to be moving smoothly. Parking is to the west; the trucks are in a line to the east; lots of volunteers to direct you, and carts on wheels that you can borrow if you need one.

Above, that’s WSJA executive director Chris Mackay directing drivers as they arrive for dropoffs.

10:06 AM: The line of cars waiting to get into the lot is very short now! Fewer than 10 cars before the lot entrance.

12:20 PM: Commenters note that the electronics-recycling truck hit capacity before the event is over. If you still have those types of items waiting to be recycled, that’s part of what they’ll be taking, as usual, at the Fauntleroy Church Recycle Roundup, a free dropoff event 9 am-3 pm Saturday, April 26 – we’ll publish the official item list when it’s available.

BlairJ March 8, 2025 (9:25 am)

I wonder how the shredding machine handles wet paper. Seem like a canopy would be a good idea over the collection bins when it is raining.

98116er March 8, 2025 (9:54 am)

The paper is going into covered bins which are quickly off-loaded as soon as they’re full.

98116er March 8, 2025 (9:52 am)

It seems much better organized this time. Thank you to all the volunteers who make this happen!

Blbl March 8, 2025 (10:38 am)

It may be better, but it’s not good enough. Ridiculous wait. I gave up and went home.

Matt March 8, 2025 (12:07 pm)

You should have gone back later. The ridiculous wait it sounds like is because everyone, including you, showed up right at/before the start. Yes, they could use another e-waste/small appliance truck next year, but otherwise they seem to have had the right amount of resources there.
- Blbl March 8, 2025 (12:51 pm)
  
  I did go back and it was much better. Although the electronics were full, as mentioned. I’ll make a note for next time to come in the middle, not at the beginning.

valvashon March 8, 2025 (11:06 am)

If you are ditching a small, flat screen TV I would probably be
interested in it if you’d rather see it reused instead of tossed into the chipper. 24″ or smaller, flat screen (NO CRT’s), working or not. valvashon@hotmail.com, checking my email throughout the day.

CB March 8, 2025 (11:14 am)

They are already full for electronics and not taking anymore.

Casey March 8, 2025 (11:22 am)

Such a well-run event. Went back at 10:30 and was in and out in 5 minutes (tried earlier but turned around when I saw the line). Spent weeks sorting my paper for this event, plus liberated a full box of batteries and bulbs. Friendly staff. Thank you to all the workers, organizers and sponsors.

Del Casa March 8, 2025 (11:34 am)

As of about 45 minutes ago, the e-waste and small appliance recycling is full. You may be able to take your items directly to the transfer center apparently.

Del Casa March 8, 2025 (12:12 pm)

Despite not being able to recycle my items today, I agree with Matt that the event was very well organized and smoothly run! They were doing a great job of taking feedback at the exit and I was promised there will be more capacity next time for e-waste and small appliance recycling. 👍

Matt March 8, 2025 (12:03 pm)

This was my first time attending this event; I didn’t bother in the past
due to what I’ve read about them here. I got there later than I
wanted, a little after 10:45am but by that time the line at the North
Lot entrance gate was 4 cars deep, so very little wait. There was
plenty of room left in the batteries box and the foam blocks boxes
didn’t seem like they’d fill up any time soon. I was able to drop off
some very small appliances (like old smoke detectors and others of a
similar size that fit in one plastic bag) but they had otherwise filled
up all their pallets with small appliances like printers, TVs, etc, and
were turning people away. All in all it was extremely smooth and I was
in and out of there in under 10 minutes. From what I’ve read of past
events it sounds like the organizers deserve a lot of praise for this
one! And thank you to all the great volunteers!

recycling event veteran March 8, 2025 (12:14 pm)

Parking right outside the entrance and walking your s–t in is the only way. That 9am line was silliness. If I had waited in the car line with my one small appliance, they probably would have filled up by the time I got to the front.

WSB March 8, 2025 (12:20 pm)

I will add this to the story above too, but for those who still have items to recycle, including electronics, the Fauntleroy Church twice-annual Recycle Roundup is coming up April 26. They don’t take some of the items this event did – no clothing and furniture, for example, and no shredding (usually somebody else has a shredding event in the spring/summer and we will of course announce it when we get word), but it’s always an excellent event too. – TR

Recycler March 8, 2025 (12:29 pm)

I had a computer monitor and TV that I wanted to recycle. The Fauntleroy recycling event doesn’t accept them.
- WSB March 8, 2025 (12:43 pm)
  
  Definitely different recyclers take different stuff. Anyway, you might already know this, but I just looked around and the database search here
  http://1800recycle.wa.gov/
  has a couple options in SODO (RE-PC and Friendly Earth) and also mentions Goodwill Burien. Not as convenient as an event here in WS but if you happen to be going to either of those areas anyway …

WSB March 8, 2025 (12:58 pm)

Reposting info from Judy P’s comment that had a formatting problem:

“The Fauntleroy Church event DOES take monitors but not televisions.
The handout during last fall’s event explained why:
Staff at DTG Recycle (parent company of 1 Green Planet) explain that, from a recycling standpoint, the two
appliances are quite different.
Recycling old TVs requires specialized labor and equipment to extract hazardous materials such as mercury-filled tubes and leaded glass, and these materials are costly to dispose of in an environmentally responsible way. To cover expenses, the company would need to charge TV donors but has no workable way to do so at such free community events as these roundups.
To tell the difference between a monitor and a TV, look at the port on the back. Monitors normally have a VGA port and TVs normally have a VHF/UHT port.
The best thing to do with an old TV is take it to Burien Goodwill so that the manufacturer will pay recycling costs.”

(Thanks, Judy!)

valvashon March 8, 2025 (2:42 pm)

The 1 Green Planet explanation of the difference between a “monitor” and a “TV” doesn’t make a lot of sense from a technical point of view. With the exception of Plasma flat screen TV’s (usually 40″ and above) there are two different types of flat screen TV’s and monitors. When flat screen devices were first offered in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, the screen was a LCD (liquid crystal display) backlit with 2 or 4 CCFL (cold cathode fluorescent) tubes located at the top and bottom of the screen. This technology was used on both dedicated computer monitors with VGA and DVI ports, among others, and flat screen TV’s with those ports, additional video ports and an OTA digital tuner. CCFL is a different fluorescent light technology (with mercury in the tubes) allowing for very small diameter lamps but like all fluorescent lamps, they will eventually burn out. Although difficult, these CCFL lamps can be replaced if you are dedicated to saving the monitor or TV in question. I have repaired several TV’s and computer monitors by replacing the CCFL tubes and have another one on the bench. Recently, manufacturers have replaced the CCFL backlighting with bright LED’s which can be either at the top and bottom or behind the LCD screen. This lighting is used on both TV’s and dedicated computer monitors. LED’s burn out too and some can easily be replaced and some essentially can’t be replaced. LED backlighting allows for somewhat less energy use than CCFL’s and also for curved and bigger screens. 1 Green Planet’s assertion that TV’s are more difficult to recycle than monitors falls apart when you consider that there are CCFL and LED versions of both “TV’s” and “Monitors”. There is no good technical reason to take a “monitor” over a “TV” as either can have LED’s or CCFL tubes with mercury. Remember too that a flat screen TV can almost always be used as a computer monitor as well as a TV, but a computer monitor can only be used as that unless you get additional equipment. Depending on size of TV that “Recycler” has I may be interested in it.

Javan March 8, 2025 (5:01 pm)

I missed this one. Will there be another one this year?

Dm March 8, 2025 (6:20 pm)

Thanks so much West Seattle Chamber of Commerce and Junction Association for sponsoring the event! I always load up my rolling grocery cart with paper to shred, board the bus and walk right in. Easy for me because I only live one mile away. It ran way smooth this year!

Morgan Graham March 8, 2025 (10:45 pm)

Reminder that the styrofoam recycler takes the styrofoam trays that grocery stores often use for meats and seafood. We keep an extra big blue recycle bin at our house to collect just those plus all the blocks.