VC Star
By David Goldstein
February 15, 2025
Push the button and bear the piercing sound at least twice per year, advise experts who stress the importance of testing smoke alarms. Most people probably agree, but actually doing it is the hard part.
Similarly, when smoke alarms with non-replaceable batteries chirp incessantly, flipping the disabling switch and mailing the devices back to the manufacturer is the proper way to handle this waste.
But do people actually do it?
Until now, I have advised readers of this column to manage their smoke alarms that way, but I have not done it. Instead, for nearly 20 years, I have stored dead smoke alarms in my garage, waiting to eventually get around to mailing them to manufacturers. Finally, last week, I did it. I found it was much more difficult and much less commonly practiced than I expected.
Bill Pendergrass, a window clerk at the Ventura post office on Santa Clara Street, has worked for the U.S. Postal Service for over 50 years. In all that time, he said, he had “never seen someone else trying to mail a smoke detector back to a manufacturer.”
He helps dozens of people every day to send a wide variety of packages, so that was disappointing, but perhaps my odd behavior was in accurately declaring the contents of the package. Hopefully, many people really do follow the recommended method for recycling old smoke detectors.
Dustin Colyer, an environmental resource analyst with the Ventura County Public Works Agency who manages household hazardous waste for the county, said the agency can’t accept smoke detectors at household hazardous waste collection events because they have a radioactive element.
“But smoke detectors are also not allowed in landfills,” he said. “You can see on manufacturers’ websites that they do accept the units back by mail.”
At first, I tried to mail the unit back at the Ventura post office on Wake Forest Avenue. But when the window clerk there asked me to hit the “no” button on a screen, declaring there was nothing hazardous, radioactive or otherwise dangerous in the package, I told him I had to click “yes” because smoke detectors are probably radioactive. He then refused to accept the package unless it had a sticker affixed to it indicating radioactive material. He did not sell the stickers and did not know where one could be purchased.
I went home, created a “radioactive” sign on my computer, complete with the yellow background and universal image, printed it, taped it onto the box of dead smoke alarms, and went to see Mr. Pendergrass at the other post office. He added on a “hazardous” sticker for good measure, charged me for the postage, affixed the postage sticker and sent the package on its way.
Included in the box is a letter to the manufacturer noting some of the alarms did not last the full 10 years as guaranteed. One, to which the letter was attached, lasted only three years. Lowe’s Home Improvement, where I bought most of the alarms, offers refunds only for items bought within the past 90 days. Let’s see if I get a refund from the manufacturer.
The Postal Service previously provided a list of smoke alarm manufacturers and addresses where customers could mail back units. But due to frequent changes in ownership, contact information and other areas, the service no longer provides brand-specific instructions, according to a 2019 update.
The service suggests looking on the bottom of the smoke detector for the manufacturer’s website or phone number and contacting them to confirm whether there is a mail-back program as well as how to return the unit. Absent that, they suggest contacting a local regulatory agency for recycling or disposal options.
David Goldstein, an environmental resource analyst with the Ventura County Public Works Agency, can be reached at 805-658-4312 or david.goldstein@ventura.org.
