California banned electronics from the trash two decades ago and almost nobody was told. Here is every free place in LA that takes them.
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Electronics have been illegal in California trash since February 2006. In Los Angeles you drop a TV, monitor or computer free at any of seven S.A.F.E. Collection Centers, open weekends, up to 125 pounds or 15 gallons per visit. LA Sanitation also takes e-waste at the curb on a free bulky-item pickup.
There is no legal way to put a television in a black bin in this state, and no route here costs anything but the gas. LA Sanitation's S.A.F.E. Centers are open every weekend to City and County residents alike, and LA Sanitation collects e-waste at the curb on the free bulky-item pickup if you cannot lift it into a car.
The Electronic Waste Recycling Act passed in 2003. The state recycling fee started appearing on receipts in 2005. And on February 9, 2006, the last exemption that let a household throw this stuff away quietly expired. Most people here still learn the rule from a sticker on a trash can, if at all.
Below: where the money went, where to take the device, what to wipe first, and the small electronics that set trucks on fire.
Two bodies of law land on the TV in your garage. First, the Electronic Waste Recycling Act of 2003, passed as SB 20 and signed September 25, 2003, then clarified by SB 50 on September 29, 2004. CalRecycle runs the money, the Department of Toxic Substances Control regulates the waste, the Department of Tax and Fee Administration collects the fee.
The second is hazardous waste law. Health and Safety Code section 25214.10.1 requires DTSC to “adopt regulations that identify electronic devices that the department determines are presumed to be, when discarded, a hazardous waste.” Those are universal waste under Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations, Division 4.5, Chapter 23. That rule once carried a temporary household exemption, and it ran out. The Assembly's analysis of AB 2127 dates it: “per DTSC regulations, as of February 9, 2006, all ‘u-waste’ items including those generated by households and small businesses are banned from disposal at a solid waste landfill.”
| Batteries | Every size and chemistry, rechargeable and single-use |
|---|---|
| Lamps | Fluorescent tubes and compacts, high-intensity discharge, metal halide, sodium vapor, any lamp with added mercury |
| Cathode ray tubes | The picture tube in an old TV or monitor. A typical CRT holds two to five pounds of lead; many hold eight |
| Consumer electronic devices | Cell phones, game consoles, computer processing units, radios, VCRs, CD players, stereos |
| Mercury devices | Thermostats, fever thermometers, switches, gauges, dental amalgam, and non-empty aerosol cans |
Sources: LA County Fire, “Identifying Universal Waste Generators” and CalRecycle, read September 11, 2026.
Nobody charges you to recycle a television here because the recycling was prepaid. Since January 1, 2005, retailers have collected a Covered Electronic Waste recycling fee on every video display device with a screen over four inches. It goes to the CDTFA, into the Electronic Waste Recovery and Recycling Account, and back out to approved collectors and recyclers by the pound. These tiers have held since January 1, 2020. One thing changed this year: SB 1215 extended the program on January 1, 2026 to products whose battery you cannot remove with a household tool.
| Screen over 4in, under 15in | $4 |
|---|---|
| Screen 15in to under 35in | $5 |
| Screen 35in or more | $6 |
| Battery-embedded products, from Jan 1, 2026 | 1.5% of the retail selling price, capped at $15 per product |
| Refundable? | No. CalRecycle states the fee is not a deposit and has no redemption value |
| What it buys | $1.19 a pound to recyclers for CRT e-waste, $1.16 for non-CRT, plus $0.40 to the collector |
Sources: CalRecycle, CEW Recycling Fee and CDTFA, Tax Rates — Special Taxes and Fees. Read September 11, 2026.
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S.A.F.E. stands for Solvents, Automotive, Flammables, Electronics. Permanent LA Sanitation facilities, open weekends, free to City and County residents alike. No appointment, no receipt, no charge. Each takes “Electronic Waste (TVs, Computers, Monitors, Printers, Cell Phones, Cables/Wiring)”.
There is a hard cap on what you may legally carry, and it is the most useful number here. In LA Sanitation's wording: “The State of California has set the household hazardous waste transportation limit as a maximum of 125 pounds or 15 gallons per visit.” A big television and a tower clears it. Eleven CRT monitors does not. The centers also close in rain, on City holidays, and December 24 through January 3.
| East Valley | 11025 Randall St, Sun Valley 91352. Sat and Sun, 9:00am–3:00pm |
|---|---|
| North Valley | 10241 N. Balboa Blvd, Northridge 91325. Sat and Sun, 9:00am–3:00pm. No business waste |
| Harbor | 1400 N. Gaffey St, San Pedro 90731. Sat and Sun, 9:00am–3:00pm |
| Playa del Rey | 7660 W. Imperial Hwy, Gate B, Playa del Rey 90293. Sat and Sun, 9:00am–3:00pm. Driver license required at the plant gate |
| West LA | 550 Charles E. Young Dr West, Los Angeles 90095. Fridays, Saturdays and first Sundays, 9:00am–3:00pm. Closed Sept 18–19, 2026 for move-in |
| Central LA | 4600 Colorado Blvd, Los Angeles 90039. Saturday only, 9:00am–3:00pm. State photo ID required at the gate |
| East LA | 2649 E. Washington Blvd, Los Angeles 90021. Sat and Sun, 9:00am–3:00pm. The program page still flags this one closed; the facility page lists it reopening Sept 5, 2026. Call first |
| Per-visit limit | 125 pounds or 15 gallons, set by the State of California |
| Refused | EV batteries, smoke detectors, fans, heaters, air conditioners, vacuums, business waste. One number for all seven: 1-800-773-2489 |
Source: LA Sanitation's S.A.F.E. Centers and the seven individual LA Sanitation facility pages, read September 11, 2026.
A rear-projection television is not going in a Corolla, and the S.A.F.E. limit would stop you anyway. The route almost nobody uses is the free one: LA Sanitation's bulky-item pickup is unlimited and explicitly lists “Electronic waste (TVs, computers, monitors)” among what it takes, on your normal trash day with one business day of notice. It is covered in full in our guide to bulky-item pickup city by city.
| LA Sanitation curbside pickup | Free, unlimited, takes TVs, computers and monitors. 1 business day of notice, collected on your trash day. 1-800-773-2489 or MyLA311 |
|---|---|
| LA Sanitation monthly drop-off | One Saturday a month, 8:00am–4:30pm, no appointment. Remaining 2026 dates: Sept 19, Oct 10, Nov 21, Dec 12 |
| The five yards | 11050 Pendelton St, Sun Valley · 8840 Vanalden Ave, Northridge · 1400 N Gaffey St, San Pedro · 2027 Stoner Ave and 2201 E Washington Blvd, Los Angeles |
| LA County roundups | Free drive-through e-waste events, most Saturdays 9:00am–3:00pm, any county resident, no appointment. Next as of Sept 11, 2026: Baldwin Park and Beverly Hills, Sept 19 |
| Permanent county centers | 1200 W. City Ranch Rd, Palmdale, first and third Saturday 9:00am–3:00pm · 2755 California Ave, Signal Hill, select Saturdays 9:00am–2:00pm |
| County roundups refuse | Business e-waste, refrigerators, stoves, washers, solar panels, tires |
Sources: LA Sanitation, Schedule a Bulky Item Pickup and LA County Public Works. Locations change weekly; check the county calendar first.
Refuse is a local service in most of the eighty-eight cities here, so whether a TV may go out depends on which side of a street you live on. Only cities publishing an explicit position are listed. An item left out and refused is illegal dumping, not a missed collection.
| Los Angeles | Takes it. “Electronic waste (TVs, computers, monitors)” is on the accepted list for free curbside pickup |
|---|---|
| Long Beach | Takes it. Computers, monitors and televisions are eligible for special collection, on (562) 570-2876 |
| Burbank | Takes it. TVs are acceptable with no special handling fee, and electronics are one of the few bulky categories the city says are recycled |
| Beverly Hills | Refuses it. E-waste including TVs, printers, consoles and monitors is prohibited; the city points residents to the S.A.F.E. center at UCLA |
| Torrance | Refuses it. Electronic waste is listed under prohibited household hazardous waste, with paint, sharps and fluorescent tubes |
Sources: each city's own page — Long Beach, Burbank, Beverly Hills, Torrance. Read September 11, 2026.
A S.A.F.E. center is a hazardous waste facility, not a data processor. The attendant puts your tower in a cage and whatever was on the drive is still there. If it held anything you would not want read aloud, use a certified recycler: the EPA recognizes two accredited standards, R2 and e-Stewards, and both “require destruction of all data on used electronics.” CalRecycle publishes a directory of approved recyclers; we will not name a yard we have not stood in this month.
The other thing to pull out is anything with a lithium cell. The EPA is direct: lithium-ion batteries and the devices containing them “should NOT go in household garbage or recycling bins,” because damage in transport or processing creates a fire hazard. CalRecycle cites the same fires and injuries at sorting facilities. Vapes are the worst version: a sealed cell, a heating element and nicotine residue, thrown out by the million.
LA Sanitation has put battery buckets in Los Angeles Public Library branches, the easiest route in the city for a handful of dead AAs. The scope is narrow and LA Sanitation spells it out: libraries take small single-use and rechargeable batteries, and do “not accept Vape Pens/E-Cigarettes, Light Bulbs, Cell Phones, E-Waste or trash.” A phone is e-waste. Tape both terminals before you drive them anywhere.
To a new machine, to cloud storage, or to an external drive.
Apple, Google, Microsoft. Resetting while signed in can leave an activation lock that makes the device useless to a refurbisher.
Reset this PC on Windows, Erase All Content and Settings on a Mac, Powerwash on a Chromebook. Deleting files does not do it. If it will not boot, pull the drive and hand it in separately.
Sources: Federal Trade Commission, US EPA on certified recyclers, US EPA on lithium-ion batteries and LA Sanitation.
This is the part where a junk removal crew tells you not to call. E-waste drop-off in Los Angeles is free everywhere: seven S.A.F.E. centers, five city yards, a county roundup most Saturdays, a free curbside pickup. One TV and a car, and you are done for the gas.
Three things change that, and all are about weight, stairs or volume rather than disposal. It is genuinely heavy: a rear-projection or early plasma set is a two-person carry and a real injury risk on a staircase. It is upstairs: every free program here is curbside only, and nobody climbs a Koreatown walk-up for you. There are twenty of them: the 125-pound limit turns an office cleanout into five or six trips, and business e-waste is refused at county roundups outright. At that point it is a single e-waste job, a garage cleanout or a commercial load, and worth pricing. Everything else, take it in on a Saturday morning.
Every rule, fee, limit and deadline on this page is from the body that sets it. Checked on the date above; if a city changes its program we change the page.
Same crew, one visit, one number agreed before anything is lifted.
TVs, CRT monitors and computers. Banned from the trash in California.
The whole garage in one visit. We sort, donate what is usable and sweep the slab.
COIs, after-hours dock slots and property-manager invoicing.
Fridges, washers and AC units. Refrigerant units are handled as universal waste.
The rest of the LA disposal manual.
Thirteen Los Angeles-area programs in one table: how many free pickups a year, how many items, who to call and what each one refuses.
You already paid the recovery fee at the register. PaintCare sites and the seven S.A.F.E. centers take it back for nothing.
Refrigerant makes a fridge hazardous waste until a certified technician removes it, which decides every route you can legally take.
The follow-up questions people ask after this one.
Yes. Televisions and monitors are universal waste under Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations, and the exemption that let households put universal waste in the trash expired on February 9, 2006. CalRecycle's guidance is blunt: do not throw electronic devices in the trash. Disposal is free across Los Angeles anyway.
At any of the seven S.A.F.E. Collection Centers, open weekends 9:00am to 3:00pm, free to City and County residents alike. You can also book a free LA Sanitation curbside bulky-item pickup, which accepts TVs, computers and monitors, or use the monthly Saturday yard drop-off.
California caps household hazardous waste transport at 125 pounds or 15 gallons per visit, and every S.A.F.E. center applies it at the gate. One large television and a desktop tower sits inside that. A garage of old CRT monitors does not, and means several trips or a truck.
The Covered Electronic Waste recycling fee, charged by the retailer at the point of sale on any video display device with a screen over four inches. It is $4 under 15 inches, $5 from 15 to under 35, and $6 at 35 or more. It is not a deposit, so it is never refunded.
Yes, and nobody will do it for you at the gate. The Federal Trade Commission recommends backing up what you want, erasing the drive with the operating system's own factory reset, then disposing of the machine. Sign out of every account first. If it will not boot, pull the drive.
Batteries yes, vapes no. LA Sanitation partners with the Los Angeles Public Library on buckets for small single-use and rechargeable batteries, but the libraries explicitly do not accept vape pens, e-cigarettes, light bulbs, cell phones or e-waste. Those go to a S.A.F.E. center.
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