In contrast to what one might believe when coming across the expression “e-waste disposal”, disposing of electronic waste – in the most environmentally friendly manner, at least – should not only entail throwing devices into the trash. Correct management of e-waste disposal entails exhausting all feasible means for a piece of equipment to not turn out to be a piece of electronic waste for as long as feasible.
What practices might you look forward to in this procedure? Let us explore it all in detail here.
- Refurbishment
The correct disposal of electronic waste is just one of the several practices in electronic waste management. Throwing away should be one of the final resorts, as we should make an effort to use and reuse devices as much as we can.
Under the umbrella of correct and safe e-waste disposal, there is a process known as refurbishing. It refers to when experts exhaust all means to repair a piece of hardware or device to bring it back to its good-as-new condition or retrieve a decent level of functionality out of it. They might add more memory, hard drive space, or do some special troubleshooting if the device has exceptional issues. Restoration, as a result, prolongs the life span of the device.
Restoration turns out to be more useful when you simply can’t pay for purchasing a new device to change the old one. A number of individuals believe that to get the most excellent IT equipment for work, for instance, they need to get rid of the previous, inadequately working one and purchase a completely new one, with the supposition that new automatically means flawlessly working. New devices will work wonders, but you would be getting more value out of the original purchase, the existing laptop if you rather have it restored.
Looking at the bigger picture, making use of the existing device for a couple of more years or so even keeps it out of a landfill for that same amount of time. If a lot of individuals practice the same thing, we could be lessening electronic waste a great extent.
- Data Erasure
When it comes to correct e-waste disposal, secure data erasure is one of the key process involved. There have been a lot of cases where sensitive data was retrieved out of old computer systems and mobile phones found in landfills or dumpsites.
Worse, there were even servers or computer systems formerly owned by institutions or companies that include a significant amount of individual’s sensitive information, from personal data of clients and staff, transaction records and medical histories, you just name it.
Computer systems these days have come a long way, and they are really good at storing data. In the same way, IT aficionados, professional or not, also keep up with this quite well, and when devices find their way to somebody who has the right abilities and the wrong objectives, sensitive data may be put at risk.
So, if a server or device has to be disposed of, sold, or transferred to different management, experts have to carry out secure data erasure on these initiatives. No matter where the device ends up after it is taken out of your hands, you have the guarantee that you or your employees are safe from data violations.
- Recycling
If any hardware or device has no more function left in it, its physical components can still be utilized. It can be picked apart to turn out scrap metal, which can then turn out to be raw materials for other new products. Examples of susceptible metals are tin, zinc, copper, and nickel.
Components such as glass, circuit boards, plastics, cables, and wires may even be utilized as raw materials for other products. They may even be sold as spare components for other computers that need to be fixed up.
For the purpose of lessening e-waste disposal, recycling is one of the most promising ways. The success of recycling electronic waste proves that the value of one device goes way beyond what it is as a unit, and as a result, the loss of function of one component may not always unavoidably reduce the value of others. Technology was built to be resilient like this, and that is the reason there are so many innovative methods to make use of electronic waste.
Proper Electronic Waste Management Necessitates Individual and Joint Accountability
When we think of landfills and dumpsites, the primary representation that comes to mind is heaps of containers and plastic bags. We often fail to remember electronic waste, which is logical, since these aren’t straightforwardly disposed of. However, once we take a step back and see just how much electronic waste is being built up by the entire popular in the fullness of time, we start to understand simply how vital it is for each individual to do their part in managing electronic waste.
The simple choice to have the device fixed up, resold, or transferred – after getting professional data erasure services – or submitted to a recycling facility goes a long way!
TechReset Can Help You
If you have got servers, devices, or other pieces of electronic waste that need to be thrown away, reach out to TechReset. From data center decommissioning to refurbishing and safe e-waste disposal, we have got you covered.
Feel free to get in touch with the qualified experts of TechReset at 905 510 8969 or drop an e-mail at mark@techreset.com to explore more about our services!
