It collects household hazardous waste. While they have threatened to move 26 miles away because Irvine asked them to move, it has resulted in another year at this location—cramped, and in front of Irvine Central Bark. They are sloppy and leave waste outside of their area, risking visitors to the dog parks tires.
How convenient, the day after Christmas, and they are closed due weather conditions, a little bit of rain will ruin the business operation, very convenient Little bit of rain
I really appreciate this free service the city/county provides. The weird rule about having to stay in your car doesn't work. I explain what to take, but they take things I didn't ask them to take and leave things that are e-waste behind. It'd be much easier if I could stand at my trunk and explain what's e-waste and what is not..
Constant long line of drive-through, expect to wait 10-45mins regardless of the size of the waste.
doing the right thing becomes a punishment due to the inefficiency. The current management basically encouraged ppl to dispose harmful waste in the wrong way.
Had to get rid of an item and wanted to do so correctly. The three stars are for the Hispanic gentleman who was very polite. The missing two are for the Wesley Snipes Blade stunt double who felt it proper to stare me down and shout at me for trying to back out of an empty driveway. Sorry, didn't see any signs - good luck with vampires, buddy.
They were so rude to me. Didn't care at all that their information online was incorrect about what they accept and I made the trip for nothing, and if they hadn't been so rude to me as I was asking for clarification I wouldn't have minded, it happens. But the way they talked down to me it was clear they had huge disdain for women in general. I went online and did more to update their information to be courteous to others in two minutes than they were willing to do for me.
My first time here. I didn’t have sharps in a container but they helped me out with one and took a load of stuff including batteries and electronics. Super fast and well organized. Highly recommended to get rid of your e-waste.
My cat is smarter than the person running this place. They typically have a line of 15-20 cars = 20-30 min wait time. the place was designed to handle 2 rows of cars to speed up drop offs, but they use only one lane. Cars inline typically block the entrance to the dog park. The chemical reuse section is typically empty because the employees seem to be holding the chemicals for friends or business associates of theirs. I was there one time when a reseller was asking an employee did not call them about some good stuff. the employee said he was busy. and the reseller let him know o an upcoming party. Paint cans are not checked. Some paint is bad. one paint can I got was rusted and was mainly was water inside that leaked in . but was still a mess to clean up when leaked. The photos I uploaded were taken at different dates, except the one showing many carts full while shelves were empty. Staff treats people ( except their friends) like trash if asking for what is on the carts. I be they will be hiding the carts after they read this review.
Update 2 months later They still refuse to use the two lines for incoming while having a line of about 20 people outside. So a quick stop is actually a half an hour. And then sometimes you have to argue with the person thinking you're a business. On my last trip there,, I brought five computers that were about 20 to 30 years old that were in my shed. They felt for some reason I've been running a business with Old slow computers that are rusted
They were clearly not business computers even 25 years ago. . The update I actually wrote while in line, predicting what would happen based upon past experiences with this location. Unsurprisingly I did not have to change a word, it went exactly as expected.
Another update, considering the volume of incoming chemicals, I find it odd the same chemicals are in the free to take section, with little changes . I guess the reseller's picking stuff up are not interested in them
Attendant needs to move with a sense of purpose. Just shuffles as slow as possible, then is rude when you pull up. Tosses peoples battery tubs back in their cars like he’s upset to be there. Place had a tense feeling. Someone with 1/2 a sense of urgency could’ve had that line of cars through in 15 minutes. Took an hour.
I don’t understand why there’s always a line outside to drop something off. Why can’t there be a way to park, walk up, and drop off? It’s a very bad experience to WANT to do the eco-friendly thing to drop off hazardous waste/batteries/etc but the process and time to drop off is such a pain.
If you have any electrical devices like computers, laptops. Tv with lithium batteries, this the place to take them. It’s a drive through, and the workers would take them out from your cars and drive on. I took a used flat screen tv in the carton a new tv came in. They took the tv out & return the box back to me. No problem at all. I cut carton box in pieces and put them in a trash bin. Great place to take used electronics for the better environments.
The person that “helped” me only took out HALF of what was in the bins leaving a bunch of batteries and chemicals without putting the lid back on or even telling me which ended up causing a leak in my trunk. I went out of my way to come to this spot because of all the good reviews and now I’m stuck going to a different toxic waste disposal and need a detail on top of it!
This place is just fantastic and so are the employees. Always helpful and positive. I'm grateful that I have a place where I can go to safely dispose of my broken electronics. The drive-thru drop off is fast; easy; and safe.
They are great individuals who put in hard work here. They are much to be respected, for they will dispose of most of the hazardous material they can accept at no charge, with minimal effort, as they expedite their process by having individuals stop their cars in their local drive-in. The hazardous waste management crew members do all the labor for you and remove any piece of waste material from your vehicle. They can also not take tips, which is unfortunate as their service is beyond stellar, but it's all in the excellent nature of the county, which goes to show you how well-rounded Irvine's sustainability efforts can go.
This place is always helpful, polite, and fast. You sit in your car while they remove your waste. My car was full of '90s era computer gear and they took everything except 1 little keyboard (not technically eWaste). Thank you Irvine HHW!
It’s an easy in and out place and the workers are very friendly. I’ve dropped off all types of electronics, batteries, cell phone charging cords, paint and even nail polish. You don’t need to live in Irvine to go here. Highly recommend - love this place!
Website is unclear; Make sure to bring containers you're okay with donating. They take it all and they don't have any drums of their own to hold any liquids (e.g., motor oil, old fuel, etc.)
Also they won't let you come out of the car to remove the items. I get it, liability reasons. However, the volunteer or employee has apparently never worked an electronic lift gate/trunk and manually pulled our Tesla trunk up. It made a horrendous sound, I'm sure there are liabilities here as well.
Staff was not giving off friendly vibes during dialogue. I get it as well, loading and unloading other people's junk isn't fun work.
Overall a bad experience for trying to do the right thing for the environment. We need to make it easier for people to dispose of hazardous materials, this doesn't encourage it. Maybe better funding, instead of constantly doing roadwork that isn't necessary that takes years and loads of our city/county funds.
The staff is clueless on how to deal with people dropping off stuff. the line of cars routinely extends out and down the street. And the reasons for this?? 1) staff stands around alot, 2) up to 3 people to unload vehicles of a little amount of small items. 3) the facility has the capability to have 2 rows of cars being unloaded at a time. They never take more than one. So line is 1/2 the speed it should be just because of that.
4) Everyone who works there acts like they just started even though most have worked for years.
5) They are more concerned someone may be bringing some item that a business may use. So if you bought a printer from Costco to use at home, they may refuse it since a business may have used it.
6) Pro tip - keep in mind there are some I think may have been in prison before. So-- when bringing stuff, do not leave anything you may want to keep in the back of the car while they are unloading with you in the front.
I have seen as many as 30 Number of cars in line One time I was bringing in some garden chemicals and they refused to take any . The reason was they sad in my vehicle I had white plastic buckets in there with lis on them. The person said I was a contractor . I pointed out the makers labels on the buckets was FROSTING. I stated i was was not even the construction of gingerbread houses either. He refused to change his mind.
Just love these guys, easy drive-through, stay in your car, pop your trunk, and they take out your hazardous recycling, return your little battery container, they close your trunk, and you are on your way.
We use this facility infrequently for extra paints, old light bulbs, empty aerosol cans etc. It is very easy to get to and even if there is a lone of cars to get in the wait is not more than 10 to 15 minutes. Compared to the freeway traffic it is actually fast! The personnel are friendly and efficient. This is a great service for Irvine residents.
Came by to drop off some e-waste. Stopped by to see what they had available in the exchange area. I found a couple of things I could use. You never know what you will find but you can get lucky. The guys working are super friendly and drop off was quick and easy
Aug 01, 2019
Nearest Junkyards to Irvine Household Hazardous Waste Collection Center
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