Johnny Duong, Chief Operating Officer of California Waste Solutions, center, with CWS employees at the company’s Oakland facility.
A California Waste Solutions recycling truck serving customers in San José, California.
Inside a California Waste Solutions recycling facility in San José, California.
CWS will introduce curbside pickup of household batteries in San José starting in 2027, accompanied by a new five-year Teamsters contract.
Our team members are the backbone of these operations. Investing in them enhances our capacity to serve our customers and grow initiatives like household battery collection.”— Michael Duong, President, California Waste SolutionsOAKLAND, CA, UNITED STATES, September 17, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — California Waste Solutions, Inc. is generating headlines in San Jose this week, receiving strong backing from its workforce for a new five-year agreement while introducing a fresh household battery collection service. The company also served as a Diamond Sponsor for the Police Department Awards again this year, highlighting its dedication to the community.
Workers in San Jose, represented by the Teamsters, ratified a contract offer from California Waste Solutions that includes increased wages, enhanced benefits, and improved paid time off.
These new worker advantages arrive as California Waste Solutions prepares to start collecting household batteries curbside from single-family residences in San Jose in early 2027, building on a similar cart-top program the company has operated for the City of Oakland since 2015.
These two major announcements underscore how essential motivating employees is to making progress on offering new services, said Michael Duong, President of California Waste Solutions.
“California Waste Solutions can deliver the services it does because we operate as a family business, and our employees are part of that family,” said Duong. “Their hard work is what allows us to roll out the new battery collection and recycling service in the first place.”
These additional services are achievable thanks to the company’s strong ties with its workforce, said Duong.
Sergio Arrañaga, a business agent for Local 350 and chief negotiator for the bargaining unit said: “This robust contract demonstrates their dedication to elevating standards for workers across the waste industry,” said Arrañaga.
ABOUT THE UPCOMING BATTERY SERVICE
This initiative falls under San Jose's Recycle Right program, which encompasses the sorting guidelines residents already use at home. It targets a specific and costly challenge in municipal recycling: an item that is recyclable, hazardous if misplaced, and has been difficult to dispose of conveniently until now.
"One constant in recycling since we started our business more than thirty years ago is the critical need to recycle batteries properly," said David Duong, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of California Waste Solutions. "We have been collecting household batteries at the curb for the past ten years in Oakland. We are pleased that San Jose residents will now have this option as well."
Duong established the company in Oakland in 1992 with just eight used collection trucks. Today, CWS serves more than 343,000 customers in Oakland and San Jose from six Bay Area recycling facilities.
Residents are instructed to place covered household batteries in a clear, sealable plastic bag about one quart in size, tape the terminals, close the bag, and set it atop the recycling cart on regular collection days. Crews remove the bag before emptying the cart, ensuring it never enters the compacted load.
"Every aspect of this program is designed to keep the battery out of the main load," said Michael Duong, president of California Waste Solutions. "Sealed bag, taped terminals, placed on top, and transferred to a separate truck compartment. These four steps ensure the material remains isolated throughout the process."
DETAILED OVERVIEW
The new service accepts alkaline and 9-volt batteries, along with coin and button lithium-ion cells commonly found in watches, hearing aids, key fobs, and small electronics. It excludes tool battery packs, lead-acid or vehicle batteries, and larger rechargeable lithium-ion packs used in power tools and consumer devices.
However, these excluded items are not ignored. Santa Clara County provides a free household hazardous waste drop-off program by appointment, and San Jose lists retail take-back locations. CWS says it will assist the city in educating residents on these differences.
Coin and button cells contain minimal energy, making them safe for sealed bags. Larger lithium-ion packs, on the other hand, can undergo thermal runaway, generating their own oxygen and resisting standard firefighting methods. San Jose already cautions residents that these cells can ignite fires when disposed of in trash or recycling carts.
DESTINATION FOR COLLECTED BATTERIES
Collected bags remain in a dedicated truck compartment throughout the route. They are then consolidated at a CWS facility and transported to a permitted battery recycler. The material is never mixed with commingled waste and is kept out of landfills. Steel, zinc, and manganese recovered from household alkaline cells are returned to manufacturing processes.
Recycling a battery is significantly more expensive than recycling paper, glass, or plastic collected alongside it. Cells must be sorted by chemistry, packaged, and transported under hazardous-materials regulations, then processed at licensed plants. By weight, a household battery ranks among the costliest items in a residential recycling program, yet CWS continues to collect them.
“Just as we are committed to investing more in our employees, as seen in our recent negotiations with the Teamsters, we are also willing to pay a premium for superior service to our customers. For California Waste Solutions, our employees and customers are one and the same: they are our neighbors, the people we see at the mall and share meals with. That’s why we prioritize quality,” said President Michael Duong.
BATTERIES CHALLENGE THE RECYCLING MODEL
CWS operates Pellenc optical sorters and is currently installing EverestLabs artificial-intelligence scanners on its lines. While these systems can identify intact items at high speeds, they are ineffective if a cell has already failed inside a collection truck.
"We have invested years in enhancing our line’s recognition technology, and it performs exactly as intended," Michael Duong said. "But it doesn’t address this issue. By the time a battery reaches the plant, the critical decision has already been made at the cart. This isn’t a technology problem; it’s an education problem, and it’s one we can solve with residents."
Thus, the control point is the cart, not the plant. The resident is the only one who can prevent the cell from entering the packer. The city and the hauler are responsible for providing clear instructions that are easy to follow.
As reported in Recycling Today, California Waste Solutions recently announced it was integrating AI technology into its optical sorting systems to assist employees in identifying items on the conveyor belt.
REDUCING COSTS
Fire Rover, which monitors publicly reported fires at waste and recycling facilities in the U.S. and Canada, recorded 448 waste fires in 2025, with about 100 classified as catastrophic, resulting in losses of approximately $2.5 billion. Waste, paper, and plastic plants accounted for roughly half of these incidents, with batteries cited as a significant factor.
San Jose has already experienced a battery-related fire that destroyed a public recycling center, causing $6.8 million in damages.
CWS is also exploring infrared cameras, smoke and heat detection systems, and extinguishing equipment for its collection vehicles.
"People don’t think about the person when they toss a battery into a cart, and that’s understandable because you can’t see us from your driveway," David Duong said. "But someone is riding behind that load, and someone is standing over it on the sorting line. They are our employees and our family. A sealed bag on top of the cart protects them, so we invest in them."
California is developing a producer-funded battery stewardship program under the Responsible Battery Recycling Act of 2022, with CalRecycle still drafting the regulations. Until that system is operational, the practical solution for a household battery in San Jose is the city's collection program and the company operating it.
A COLLABORATIVE SYSTEM
Recycle Right operates on the principle that residents sort correctly, crews handle the bags, and batteries reach a permitted recycler. This logic has guided CWS since 1992. Oakland and San Jose maintain different accepted-material lists, so the company provides city-specific guidance rather than a one-size-fits-all instruction set. This guidance is supported through school visits, neighborhood events, multilingual materials, and partnerships with property managers.
"We are a community service company," David Duong said. "Our mission is to make the right action easy, explain it clearly, and manage the material properly once residents have done their part. That’s our commitment to the cities we serve and the people living in them."
OTHER SAN JOSE HIGHLIGHTS THIS WEEK
California Waste Solutions once again served as the Diamond Sponsor for the 2026 San Jose Police Department Major Awards Ceremony.
“This is an evening when the city publicly acknowledges the achievements of its residents and officers from the past year,” said David Duong. “We were honored to sponsor the event again in such a prominent role, continuing our five-year partnership that began during the Covid-19 pandemic. It’s another key commitment we’ve made to the community and to recognizing its top performers.”
ABOUT CALIFORNIA WASTE SOLUTIONS
California Waste Solutions Inc. is a family-owned recycling and resource-recovery company based in Oakland. Founded in 1992 by David Duong, it offers collection, processing, customer service, and material recovery for residential, commercial, and municipal clients across Northern California, including Oakland and San Jose. The company operates six Bay Area recycling facilities and serves more than 343,000 customers. City-specific recycling details are available at calwaste.com/recycling-guide.
Wendy Nguyen
The King Of Trash
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