An E-Cycling volunteer collects a printer and laptop from a car trunk.

January 10 | 9:00am-Noon | East Parking Lot of the Virginia Aquarium.

Dispose of old electronics responsibly at the Virginia Aquarium’s E-Cycling event on January 10.

Rain or shine, participants can recycle old cellphones, personal electronic items, unneeded prescriptions, vehicle batteries, cardboard, plastic bags, resealable plastic bags, case overwrap, bubble wrap and more at this free event. The event will be a drive-through in the Aquarium’s East Parking Lot with participating vendors including Goodwill Industries, AAA Tidewater, Virginia Beach Police Department, and the 911 Cellphone Bank, where old cellphones will be refurbished and donated to victims of human trafficking.

Live Christmas trees will be collected during the E-Cycling event. The collected trees will be repurposed for mulching used throughout the City. Acceptable trees must be bare and live-cut trees from households.

This event ends promptly at noon. This event is for residential recycling only, and no trees or items from commercial businesses will be accepted. We encourage you to register for free in advance, which will give us a headcount to prepare! Trees and recyclables will not be accepted at the Aquarium on any other day or time.

Volunteer for E-Cycling!

Want to support our E-Cycling Event? Register as a volunteer to help out!

Items We Will Accept and Collect

Goodwill and the Aquarium will collect general electronics recycling such as personal computers, phones, tablets, TVs of all sizes (except for tube TVs), cameras, digital media players (mp3, DVD, etc.), video game systems, smartwatches, memory storage devices (e.g. SD cards), electronic accessories (chargers, headsets, etc.), and external hard drives.

The 911 Cell Phone Bank will collect new, used, or broken phones to repurpose and provide to victims of human trafficking and domestic violence as free emergency devices.

We will accept cardboard items for recycling!

Officers from the Virginia Beach Police Department will be onsite to collect old or unwanted prescription drugs for proper disposal.

AAA will be accepting used vehicle batteries. We will NOT be accepting any other battery types at this event.

In partnership with NexTrex, we will collect a variety of plastic items for recycling, including:

  • Grocery and produce bags
  • Ziploc & resealable bags
  • Bread bags
  • Produce bags
  • Bubble wrap
  • Dry cleaning bags
  • Newspaper sleeves
  • Ice bags
  • Plastic shipping envelopes
  • Food storage bags
  • Cereal bags
  • Case overwrap (such as for cases of bottled water)
  • Pallet overwrap and stretch film
  • Salt bags
  • Wood pellet bags

Live Christmas trees will be collected during this event to repurpose for mulch around the City of Virginia Beach. Trees will not be accepted at any other day or time. Virginia Beach residents may also bring their trees to the Landfill & Resource Recovery Center with proof of residency to have the tree be repurposed as mulch.

What We're NOT Accepting

Please note that we are not accepting any hazardous household waste (HHW), car seats, tube TVs, or commercial/business electronics at this event. Please contact your local landfill site to learn how to dispose of these items. Virginia Beach residents may dispose of hazardous household waste in the designated section of the City Landfill.

Are you a Virginia Beach resident?

Learn more about recycling services offered through the City of Virginia Beach!