As part of a partnership with ASL Recycling’s GREENetwork, Movegreen of Goleta has begun providing a free electronic waste recycling service for the community.

All electronic waste can be dropped off at Movegreen’s headquarters at 747 S. Kellogg Ave. Movegreen will pick up quantities of e-waste for a small fee.

Movegreen co-founder Patrick Wilkinson said there are not many places to drop off electronic waste in Santa Barbara. When electronics are sent to landfills, their toxic substances can seriously damage the environment.

“It is actually illegal to throw electronics out,” Wilkinson said. “You’re supposed to dispose of e-waste at various electronic recycling facilities. Movegreen tries to be eco-friendly in every aspect of our business, so we thought we should provide e-waste recycling.”

As the rate of technological innovation increases, the rate at which people swap out their archaic gadgets for new, cutting-edge electronics also increases. Recycling electronic materials can be dangerous because of the toxicity of some electronic substances. ASL Recycling prevents about 600 tons of e-waste from being dumped in local landfills.

Movegreen is part of ASL Recycling’s GREENetwork, a network of businesses that accept electronic waste. After accumulating a certain amount, ASL Recycling picks up the electronic waste and recycles 98 percent of the material. Movegreen provides a crucial service for the community at no cost.

Other than recycling electronic waste, Movegreen’s main objective is to provide eco-friendly moving services at competitive prices. As the first and only local eco-friendly moving company, Movegreen provides the same benefits as any other professional mover but employs environmentally friendly practices.

All packaging is reused and/or recycled, and Movegreen offers reusable plastic bins to eliminate the use of cardboard. The trucks are new and clean and run on B20 biodiesel. To minimize the use of paper, Movegreen uses tablet PCs for free in-home estimates and prints all documents double sided. Movegreen maintains a carbon-neutral business by planting 10 trees with every move and buying carbon credits to offset carbon dioxide emissions.

Click here for more information about Movegreen and its e-waste recycling program.

— Taylor Orr is media coordinator for Movegreen.