By John Flood

James Kao founded Green Citizen to make electronics recycling as easy as shopping.

It’s easy to buy a PC, an iPod or a cell phone. It’s not so easy to recycle them. In most cases, the retired PC and the worn-out TV end up on a shelf in a closet - or worse, as e-waste in a landfill.

Green Citizen Inc., an electronics recycling company, makes it easy for local consumers to recycle outdated electronics equipment and reduce the environmental impact incurred downstream. Green Citizen opened a Drop-Off Center in Los Altos June 28.

“In order for responsible recycling to take off, it has to be more convenient for consumers,” said James Kao, founder and CEO of Green Citizen. “We’re taking a new approach to helping consumers manage their end-of-life equipment. When it’s not recycled properly, e-waste may end up in landfills here or in developing countries where it can cause serious environmental pollution.”

E-waste is more than a traditional market opportunity. For some consumers it’s a clarion call to prevent an environmental disaster. Green Citizen intends to tap this sensibility.

More than 250 million personal computers and 100 million cell phones are discarded each year in the United States. Shorter life cycles of electronic equipment mean a dramatic increase in discarded tech gadgets.

“Computers alone contain more than 100 chemicals, including lead, cadmium, barium and mercury,” according to a July 31 article in The Christian Science Monitor.

Green Citizen, which accepts everything from batteries to complete systems, offers more than just a one-stop shop for e-cycling. It also has a tracking system that ensures that each piece of electronic gear sent to downstream partners for de-manufacture is handled responsibly after it’s stripped for precious metals.

According to Kao, the de-manufacturer will typically avoid the trouble to get rid of the toxic elements in a responsible way. In many cases it means shipping it to developing countries where it can pose harm to the environment and to people.

“Our tracking system is fundamental to the whole business model,” said Kao. “Without tracking, there’s no incentive for our partners (to be environmentally responsible). The recycling industry today has no statistics. We use our system as a carrot and a stick,” he said.

The system enables complete accountability of all items in the de-manufacturing process worldwide, according to the Green Citizen Web site.

“The goal is to make it a watertight system,” said Kao. The system keeps track of brands of PCs, printer types, “even the number of pounds of batteries.”

Green Citizen has processed 74,000 pounds of equipment, which includes 25,500 major electronics like PCs, laptops and printers.

The firm serves 300 companies with electronic recycling, according to Kao.

Green Citizen accepts certain items without fee: CRTs, flat screens, laptops, printer cartridges, CDs and DVDs. Batteries (up to D size) and laptop and cell-phone batteries are also recycled at no charge. Fees apply to other types of equipment.

“We’re pleased with the positive response from consumers and businesses,” said Kao. “We have a high customer return rate, up to 57 percent, and a lot of business comes through word-of-mouth, up to 20 percent.”

The company actively engages with the community through educational outreach to local schools and organizations.

“We attribute our success to the (educational) conversation we have with our customers,” Kao said. “And we make it convenient for them. We’re open seven days a week.”

Within 30 days, the company is scheduled to open a center in San Francisco south of the financial district. The privately funded Green Citizen intends to expand to four or five centers around the Bay Area within a year.

“Our second round of financing will come from environmentally conscious investors,” he said.

Green Citizen is located at 4500 El Camino Real. It is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call 493-8700 or visit www.greencitizen.com.