E-waste recycling in San Marcos
E-waste recycling in San Marcos at our North County center
Our North County recycling center is at 2930 Norman Strasse Rd STE 104 in San Marcos, close to SR-78. Bring electronics, household batteries and microwaves. It's open Monday to Saturday, and you don't need an appointment. For most of inland North County, e-waste recycling in San Marcos is the quickest option.
What to expect
How drop-off works at the San Marcos center
Step 1
Drive to Norman Strasse Rd
Drive to 2930 Norman Strasse Rd, a business park a few minutes from SR-78.
Step 2
Find Suite 104
Our unit, Suite 104, is in the back corner of the warehouse-style buildings. Visitors say there's room to back a truck in.
Step 3
Unload with our team
Our team comes out and helps unload. Tell them what you brought.
Accepted here
What you can bring for e-waste recycling in San Marcos
San Marcos takes everyday electronics plus household batteries and microwaves. A few items carry a small fee, which you'll find on each item page.
Rack and tower servers, workstations, storage arrays and other business hardware.
Cell phones, tablets, cameras, game consoles, stereos and other home electronics.
Keyboards, mice, webcams, speakers, headsets, docks and other computer accessories.
Hard drives, SSDs, USB sticks, backup tapes, CDs and DVDs. Every drive is destroyed by default.
Rechargeable, lithium-ion, power tool and single-use batteries. Tape the ends of lithium batteries.
Not accepted here
What the San Marcos recycling center can't take
- For large appliances, scrap metal, fluorescent bulbs, bikes and pallets, go to Point Loma or Chula Vista (appliance recycling, scrap metal recycling).
- Solar panels need an email with photos first, because we never take them as a walk-in (solar panel recycling).
- Damaged, swollen, leaking or burned loose batteries can't be accepted at any of our sites. Take them to the City of San Diego Miramar Recycling Center, by appointment through the City's website, and read how to handle a swollen battery. Batteries still inside a device are fine.
- Also, we can't take trash, furniture, mattresses, cardboard, construction debris, hazardous waste (paint, chemicals, fuel), medical waste or gas cylinders that still hold pressure at any of our sites.
Not sure about an item?
Check the full list of items we recycle, or call us at (619) 889-1305 before you drive over.
Compare what each site takes on our San Diego e-waste drop-off locations page.
Services
More services for e-waste recycling in San Marcos
Besides drop-off at San Marcos, we offer free pickup, data destruction and business recycling across San Diego County.
Six sites across San Diego County with no appointment. Electronics are free to drop off.
Five or more computers, laptops, monitors, servers, printers or TVs? We collect them free anywhere in San Diego County.
Residential Electronics Recycling
Household TVs, computers, phones and small electronics, dropped off or picked up from your home.
Business Electronics Recycling
Office clean-outs, IT refreshes and server rooms, with certified data destruction and recycling records.
Pickups for apartments, HOAs and commercial properties, including move-out clean-outs and bulk items.
Tracked, documented retirement of company IT, from inventory to data destruction and recycling.
Servers, storage and networking removed with a documented chain of custody and NIST 800-88 data destruction.
Recover value from retired IT through evaluation, buyback and resale, with certified recycling for the rest.
Drives are crushed or shredded by default, with witnessed destruction and a Certificate of Destruction on request.
On-Site Hard Drive Destruction
We destroy drives at your office, so the data never leaves your building.
Electronics processed under the R2v3 standard at our certified Point Loma facility.
Free community collection events with schools, businesses and neighborhood groups.
Data security
Data security for e-waste recycling in San Marcos
Electronics left here go to our processing sites in Point Loma, which is R2v3-certified, and Chula Vista. There, every data-bearing device is wiped and its drive physically crushed or destroyed by default, whether or not you ask, at no charge. Need proof for business drives? Ask about a Certificate of Destruction (3 to 5 business days) or book on-site hard drive destruction. Our certification follows the R2v3 standard published by SERI.
Our registrations: CalRecycle CEWID 127772, U.S. EPA ID CAL000484577 and California DTSC facility ID 36681. We're also RIOS-certified (ID 10240807). See our certifications for details, or our hard drive destruction service.
Directions
Getting to our e-waste recycling center in San Marcos
2930 Norman Strasse Rd is in a business park near SR-78 in San Marcos. It's the closest Dream E-Waste site for Vista, Escondido, San Elijo Hills and La Costa. For e-waste recycling in San Marcos without a long drive, this site is usually the quickest choice.
Photos
Photos from our San Marcos recycling center
Areas closest to our San Marcos center
Because San Marcos is our nearest site for 7 neighborhoods and cities, we list them here grouped by typical drive time without traffic. Open a group to see each area's page.
Nearby areas
Find your area near San Marcos
Need a pickup instead?
Don't see your area listed?
We pick up free across San Diego County when you have five or more computing devices.
Local reviews
Reviews of e-waste recycling in San Marcos
Ken & Tammy Easy drop off location
rachel chrisman Super friendly place. Heads up they do not take lighters. Your batteries should be separated and they do not receive spray cans, Nice and friendly service
Pay Way Dropped off a 20 inch CRT. The attendant was friendly and took the crt from the back of my car. Very helpful!! Easy stop and go drop off. Highly recommend.
Also he did not charge me. Hope that’s ok.
Libby Patterson made an errand i was avoiding for weeks super quick and easy 🙂
Yvonne Diaz Easy to find
Patricia Conner We had a lot of stuff we didn’t/couldn’t use. We drove into a business lot with warehouse style buildings. This particular business was in the back corner. A guy came out and took everything we had in the trunk. He was polite and asked if we wanted to get rid of a certain item. We said yes. We have no use for it. Instead of just assuming everything in the trunk was being recycled. The only thing he couldn’t take were some lights. Which was fine. He was able to take everything else.
Randy Blackburn They made it very quick and easy. I had a lot of old family videos that needed recycled. I pulled up and the gentleman took what I had and I was out the door within three minutes.
Sam Hoffman Great service and easy to use. Brought in my broke. Flat screen TV to their location and they took it for free. No charge to me. I really appreciate this great service.
Andrew Schwartz I dropped off a microwave today. Fast, and easy - with great service from the friendly staff. For recycling they're the way to go.
Six sites across San Diego County
Our other San Diego County recycling centers
Finally, our San Diego e-waste drop-off locations page compares hours and accepted items for all six sites.
Questions
Questions about the San Marcos recycling center
San Marcos
About San Marcos
San Marcos sits on SR-78 in inland North County, between Vista and Escondido. It's a college town as much as a suburb. California State University San Marcos and Palomar College are both here, and the NCTD SPRINTER light rail stops at each campus on its run between Oceanside and Escondido.
Most of the city is newer neighborhoods spread across the hills, such as San Elijo Hills and Discovery Hills in the south, with Lake San Marcos to the west. Between them are business parks like the one on Norman Strasse Rd where our recycling center is.
E-waste recycling in San Marcos and nearby
Our nearest full-service recycling center from here is Point Loma, about 50 minutes south. So this site lets homes, students and small offices in San Marcos, Vista and Escondido drop off computers, TVs, printers, household batteries and microwaves without the long drive.
However, large appliances, scrap metal and fluorescent bulbs aren't taken here, so they go to Point Loma or Chula Vista. For five or more computing devices, free e-waste pickup saves the drive altogether.
