Proper Disposal of IT Equipment, Computer Recycling, and Expectations For an IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) Vendor or Computer Liquidator

During a large scale technology refresh or just normal corporate day to day IT upgrades the focus on computer disposal or liquidating IT equipment is usually a company's last thought.  Although it makes sense that it is most important to pay attention to the computers that are plugged in and running the retired, broken, obsolete or otherwise unwanted IT equipment must be dealt with properly, and companies are turning to computer liquidators and IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) companies more and more.

When considering computer liquidation, PC disposal, or computer recycling services the major concerns for all companies are usually asset recovery, data security, and environmental compliance.  The following is a quick break down on how you can be recovering the most capital back on your retired computer equipment, handle the secure data destruction, and ensure your company is not in anyway liable for or infracts on any EPA or local regulations.

Perhaps your company is looking to sell laptops, liquidate computers, and sell used cisco equipment that has been upgraded or just no longer useful to the firm.  The best way to recover the optimum value on this equipment is to act quickly with a computer liquidator or IT asset disposition firm.  The market for used IT equipment trends downward quickly and according to the constant shift towards newly released technology and corporate / consumer needs and desires.

By minimizing equipment quarantines, cycling large liquidation inventories (don't wait until all 1 thousand laptops are upgraded before making the sale of the first 200 decommissioned), and hiring a computer liquidator willing to evaluate the equipment at no charge your firm will be able to recover maximum value quickly and easily.

When considering the disposal of computer equipment or if your company is looking to sell used servers or other equipment that may have hard drives or electronic storage it is important to have a data destruction plan in place.  IT asset disposal vendors will generally have a wide variety of options to consider.

Physically destroying the drives is a commonly chosen method because of the peace of mind it creates.  Hard drives can be rendered unusable and pulverized by commissioning hard drive shredding, on-site or mobile hard drive shredding, or by degaussing the drives (using a machine that magnetically destroys electronic media).  The downside of physically destroying hard drives is that the value of the machine goes down significantly and it is not the most socially and environmentally responsible choice.

Since reuse is always a better solution than recycling, many corporations choose to retain as much value and choose a DoD wiping solution or data sanitization method for their retired hard drives.  This can be taken care of in-house before the IT liquidation or computer disposal project, or the vendor can be commissioned to perform the work.  Any vendor performing data destruction or data wiping should be mandated to reveal the software methods they use and be able to document and certify the results of the process.

I'm regularly asked about the fines associated with improperly disposing of electronic waste (eWaste) and office electronics.  The EPA can be relatively unclear what this fines are, and only companies generating over a certain amount  of electronic waste a month are even held to the standards.  However, regardless of the major or marginal fines that could be handed out the main concern about infracting on environmental laws is the social and business implications it can have on your companies image and relations with current and prospective clients.

All vendors commissioned to perform computer disposal from a corporate environment should be issuing certificates of destruction for proper computer recycling, as well as an inventory list including all serial numbers of the computer equipment picked up and processed.  Even if a computer liquidator is selected for a strictly computer liquidation project, these vendors should still be held to the same standard as some unusable parts and machines way surface during the project.

By Frank Milia

frank@itamg.com
Vice President at IT Asset Management Group

IT Asset Management Group works with companies throughout North America to purchase, recycle, and remove surplus computer and IT equipment of all types.  ITAMG offers a full suite of data destruction solutions, including an on-site hard drive shredding and wiping service.

ITAMG is a computer liquidator that operates a mobile hard drive shredder.

For more information visit us online at www.itamg.com

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