California Waste Solutions adds San José battery pickup, secures new Teamsters deal

California Waste Solutions will begin curbside household battery collection for San José single-family homes in early 2027 while employees represented by Teamsters Local 350 approved a new five-year contract. The moves expand the Oakland recycler’s services and underscore the company’s push to pair labor stability with safer battery handling.

Why it matters: - The new San José battery program gives residents a curbside option for a hazardous item that has been linked to fires in garbage and recycling systems. - The Teamsters agreement adds pay, benefits and vacation time for San José workers, which CWS says supports service expansion and operations safety. - The battery service also reduces the chance that lithium-ion cells enter the compacted recycling stream, where they can trigger truck and facility fires.

What happened: - California Waste Solutions announced that curbside household battery collection in San José will begin in early 2027 for single-family homes. - San José employees represented by Teamsters Local 350 approved a new five-year contract with better pay, more benefits and more vacation time. - California Waste Solutions also served as an annual Diamond Sponsor of the San José Police Department Major Awards Ceremony.

The details: - The San José battery collection service will operate inside the city’s Recycle Right program. - Residents will place covered household batteries in a clear, closable plastic bag of about one quart, tape the terminals, seal the bag and set it on top of the recycling cart on regular collection day. - Crews will remove the bag before the cart is emptied, and the batteries will stay out of the compacted load. - The service accepts alkaline and 9-volt cells, plus coin and button lithium-ion batteries used in watches, hearing aids, key fobs and small electronics. - The service will not accept tool and equipment packs, lead-acid batteries, vehicle batteries or larger rechargeable lithium-ion packs used in power tools and consumer devices. - Santa Clara County offers free household hazardous waste drop-off by appointment, and San José lists retail take-back sites for items not accepted at the curb. - California Waste Solutions said it will support the city’s education efforts around which batteries belong in curbside collection. - Collected bags will ride in a dedicated compartment on the truck, be consolidated at a California Waste Solutions facility and then sent to a permitted battery recycler. - The batteries will not enter the commingled stream or go to landfill. - Steel, zinc and manganese recovered from household alkaline cells will return to manufacturing. - California Waste Solutions operates Pellenc optical sorters and is installing EverestLabs artificial-intelligence scanners on its lines. - The company is also evaluating infrared cameras, smoke and heat detection, and extinguishing equipment on collection vehicles. - California Waste Solutions was founded in Oakland in 1992 by David Duong with eight used collection trucks. - The company now serves more than 343,000 customers in Oakland and San José from six Bay Area recycling facilities.

Between the lines: - The company is treating battery collection as a resident-instruction problem rather than a plant-technology problem, because the key safety decision happens at the cart. - California Waste Solutions is using city-specific guidance because Oakland and San José accept different materials. - The company says it supports that guidance with school visits, neighborhood events, multilingual materials and work with property managers. - The battery rollout also fits into a broader California push toward producer-funded battery stewardship under the Responsible Battery Recycling Act of 2022, but CalRecycle is still writing the implementing rules. - Fire Rover recorded 448 waste fires in 2025, with about 100 classified as catastrophic and losses of roughly $2.5 billion; batteries were identified as a major contributor. - San José has already had a battery fire that destroyed a public recycling center and caused $6.8 million in damage. - California Waste Solutions positions employee investment and battery safety as connected, arguing that the people handling the material are part of the community it serves.

What's next: - California Waste Solutions will launch the San José curbside battery program in early 2027. - The company will continue educating residents on which batteries can go in the curbside bag and which must go to hazardous waste or retail take-back sites. - California Waste Solutions will keep evaluating truck-based fire detection and suppression tools. - The Responsible Battery Recycling Act’s producer-funded system remains pending until CalRecycle finishes the rules.

The bottom line: - California Waste Solutions is expanding in San José by pairing a new curbside battery service with a stronger labor contract, betting that safer operations start with employees and residents handling batteries correctly at the curb.