By Maddy PUMILIA

Foothill Car Wash is teaming up with SoCal Recycling for an electronic waste drive this Saturday, Feb. 25 that helps local organization Prom Plus as well as the environment.

People can go to Foothill Car Wash at 2355 Foothill Blvd. on Saturday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. and donate recyclable materials. Things that can be donated include batteries, ink or toner cartridges, electronic waste, PCs, CPUs, laptops, servers, routers, power supplies, connectors, cables, wires, printers, fax machines, copiers, cellphones, game machines, scanners, paper main frame, TV, shoes, clothing, bottles and cans. Everything will get disposed of responsibly and in an environmentally friendly way.

“I encourage people to bring in any electronic waste they have that might not be useful to them,” said Steve Berkman, owner of Foothill Car Wash. “Working or non-working. It doesn’t matter. It’ll all get recycled responsibly.”

The material could go to other countries, depending on what the material is.

SoCal gives back 35% of the money they make on clothing and electronics and 20% on bottles. Electronics typically yields 25 cents per pound. Money raised can be donated to a cause at the discretion of the company hosting the drive. In this Saturday’s drive, Foothill Car Wash will donate the money to Prom Plus. Prom Plus is an after prom party for CV High School seniors and their guests. It’s a safe alternative for teenagers to have fun after their prom.

“It’s our Keep It Local program,” said Jordan Severs, a SoCal Recycling coordinator. “The monetary value stays with the community. The material isn’t necessarily kept, but the revenue stays in the community.”

Foothill Car Wash always accepts batteries, cellphones, ink and toner cartridges and clothes. E-waste collection is only taking place this Saturday.

“[The e-waste drive] ties in with our whole green perspective,” said Berkman. “We’ve gone totally green. My motivation is to get this stuff properly disposed of.”

Berkman cited using solar power and being water conscious as examples of his business going green. He added that the oil the car wash used was refined to decrease the country’s dependency on foreign oil and lessen the negative impact on the environment.

“As part of our green perspective, we try to be charitable, so with every wash somebody does, we donate clean drinking water to one person for one day,” Berkman added. Every year, the car wash donates drinking water for approximately 50,000-60,000 people in a Third World country such as Guatemala or a country located within Africa.

“We always look to help out the environment,” Berkman said.

To learn more on how green Foothill Car Wash is, go to foothillautowash.com and click on the sun.

“It’s a good science lesson for any kid,” Berkman said about the website. “It’ll help teach them about the environment and solar power.”

The green collection bins have also been placed in the rear parking lot of St. Luke’s of the Mountains (2563 Foothill Blvd. in La Crescenta) and Serge’s Automotive (2410 Foothill Blvd. in La Crescenta). Proceeds from these will also benefit Prom Plus and the Fire House youth center.

According to Prom Plus/Fire House supporter and fundraising partner Steve Pierce, he hopes that more collection sites will be established.

“Our goal is to get as many out there as possible,” said Pierce.

  MADDY PUMILIA