Corporate IT Recycling Services

Unlike the basic or "traditional" recycling processes that involve the reuse or actual recycling of aluminum, glass, paper, cardboard and plastic materials into new items to be used by consumers, corporate recycling of IT assets is a completely different process involving much more complicated scenarios involving the protection and/or destruction of sensitive intellectual property and financial information as well as IT equipment.



Since IT assets such as computers contain hard drives that are filled with information, these tools cannot be simply discarded. First off, it is illegal at this point to discard of computer monitors, drives, towers and equipment due to the metals and chemicals used in these devices. Left in landfills or dumps, these chemicals and metals can leech into the ground via rainfall and contaminate water tables, thus endangering the health of humans and livestock who rely on those water supplies. The EPA has regulations in-place for handling and disposing of such equipment, and landfills are NOT one of the allowed venues for such disposition.



Secondly, due to the potentially confidential information that could be found on the hard drives of discarded computers, companies should be hesitant to just give their old computers away or even donate them during recycling drives. Journalists and industry competitors can intentionally seek out such computers in order to learn trade secrets and financial data on companies or government agencies, which can prove disastrous or at least embarrassing if such data falls into the wrong hands.



Successful and appropriate IT recycling services for larger businesses, corporations and government entities thusly need to include the following processes or best practices:



• Data sanitizing. Hard drives can be "wiped clean" or over-written using all zeros in order that no information can be gleaned from the hard drives for use in the future.

• Data destruction. Hard drives that cannot be wiped clean need to be destroyed – often times through pneumatic punches through the drives or by having the drives ground-up and chipped into pulverized bits, ensuring destruction.

• Secured destruction or sanitizing. Both of the above processes need to be documented for corporate or government clients. This can entail videotaping of the processes or some form of tracking system that provides evidence that the drives have been rendered clean or destroyed by some certified process for security purposes.

• Third-party recycling. Once the hard drives have been wiped clean or destroyed, the actual monitors and computer systems need to be resold or donated to some worthwhile agency or willing individuals. In this way, the IT equipment is given a second life and continues to be used for years to come, as opposed to allowing the equipment to waste away in non-use. This also helps to contribute to energy and materials conservation, as the resources required to manufacture new equipment are not over-utilized, which also helps to reduce air and water pollution from manufacturing processes.



IT recycling is here to stay, as computers will continue to proliferate as well as need disposal. Consider wisely what you do with your old, outdated IT assets, as information left on your systems can prove harmful to your business enterprises in the long run.