Disposing Of Old Computer Equipment
It's a business fact of life that companies need to have an adequate means of disposing of old computer equipment and other electronic scrap. But what are the best methods of disposal?
Computer Equipment Disposal
What Are The Best Options For Disposing Of Your Old Computer Equipment
It's a corporate fact of life these days that businesses need to have an adequate means of disposing of old computer equipment. The speed of technological advancement when it comes to computing technology has seen that the vast majority of computer equipment becomes obsolete within 3-4 years of its manufacture. Companies who wish to remain competitive need to adopt the latest software and communications applications. This in turn necessitates the sourcing of the latest computer hardware and operating systems to ensure that there is adequate computing power to properly run these applications. As a result, nearly all businesses are faced with the regular problem of how to best dispose of old computer equipment.
On the surface, it may appear to be a straightforward issue to resolve but there are a number of complex matters that need to be addressed. From a regulatory standpoint, businesses must comply with privacy laws in respect to customers' and employee's medical and financial information. Simply disposing of old computers without first making sure that this type of information has been destroyed would see a company in potential breach of these laws. From a financial standpoint, businesses who store old computer equipment are being drained of millions of dollars every year in terms of the storage, insurance and administration costs associated with such a business practice. And then when it comes to addressing environmental concerns, old computers contain significant amounts of toxic substances. If they are not disposed of in a proper fashion (such as being dumped in a landfill) these toxins can leach their way into the earth, air and groundwater.
It is interesting to consider that companies will spend millions of dollars every year on firewalling and intrusion prevention - in the interests of maintaining the security of their data. However those measures can quickly be rendered ineffective if those same companies don't take an equal amount of care when disposing of their de-commissioned computer equipment. Unless companies properly destroy the hard drives and RAM/ROM chips of those computers which they're disposing of, they run the risk of inadvertently leaking proprietary financial information, research-and-development data, or intellectual property; not to mention the non-public financial and medical data on employees and customers, which are required by law to be kept private.
There are problems with simply just trying to "wipe" the hard drive of an old computer. If the computers are quite old then the utilities simply aren't available to properly cleanse a hard disk. There is also the issue of cost. It has been estimated that it costs a minimum of $100 to properly wipe just the hard disk of all its data, and even that process comes with no guarantees. When you compare this with the average cost of $40 to dispose of a computer via an accredited computer recycling firm, the choice becomes quite clear.
Doing nothing (i.e. storing old computers) is not really a valid option when it comes to disposing of old computers and this leaves either donation or certified destruction as the best ways forward. Donating is best done via a computer refurbisher rather than directly to the organization to which you wish to donate as they will make sure that the computer is in proper working condition before passing it on. Probably the best option is to recycle computer equipment. A certified computer disposal company take care of the old computer equipment for you. They will extract any usable materials from the computer equipment and destroy the rest. What is more, they will be able to provide you with a certificate of destruction which guarantees your compliance should your company ever be audited.
On the surface, it may appear to be a straightforward issue to resolve but there are a number of complex matters that need to be addressed. From a regulatory standpoint, businesses must comply with privacy laws in respect to customers' and employee's medical and financial information. Simply disposing of old computers without first making sure that this type of information has been destroyed would see a company in potential breach of these laws. From a financial standpoint, businesses who store old computer equipment are being drained of millions of dollars every year in terms of the storage, insurance and administration costs associated with such a business practice. And then when it comes to addressing environmental concerns, old computers contain significant amounts of toxic substances. If they are not disposed of in a proper fashion (such as being dumped in a landfill) these toxins can leach their way into the earth, air and groundwater.
It is interesting to consider that companies will spend millions of dollars every year on firewalling and intrusion prevention - in the interests of maintaining the security of their data. However those measures can quickly be rendered ineffective if those same companies don't take an equal amount of care when disposing of their de-commissioned computer equipment. Unless companies properly destroy the hard drives and RAM/ROM chips of those computers which they're disposing of, they run the risk of inadvertently leaking proprietary financial information, research-and-development data, or intellectual property; not to mention the non-public financial and medical data on employees and customers, which are required by law to be kept private.
There are problems with simply just trying to "wipe" the hard drive of an old computer. If the computers are quite old then the utilities simply aren't available to properly cleanse a hard disk. There is also the issue of cost. It has been estimated that it costs a minimum of $100 to properly wipe just the hard disk of all its data, and even that process comes with no guarantees. When you compare this with the average cost of $40 to dispose of a computer via an accredited computer recycling firm, the choice becomes quite clear.
Doing nothing (i.e. storing old computers) is not really a valid option when it comes to disposing of old computers and this leaves either donation or certified destruction as the best ways forward. Donating is best done via a computer refurbisher rather than directly to the organization to which you wish to donate as they will make sure that the computer is in proper working condition before passing it on. Probably the best option is to recycle computer equipment. A certified computer disposal company take care of the old computer equipment for you. They will extract any usable materials from the computer equipment and destroy the rest. What is more, they will be able to provide you with a certificate of destruction which guarantees your compliance should your company ever be audited.
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