How Businesses Can Eliminate Excess Electronics the Environmentally Sound Way

Many businesses hang onto outdated electronics realizing that sending them to a landfill not only wastes finite resources, but also may have a long-term impact on the environment. While letting the used electronics collect for later disposal instead of throwing them away is a good practice, over time the space they use can add to the overhead and create unnecessary clutter that reduces productivity. Thankfully, organizations like ours at Tech Dump have the power and capacity to safely remove these excessive stowed electronics that businesses have on hand.

The U.S. EPA reports that each metric ton of recycled circuit boards yields from 40 to 800 times more gold than mining companies extract from a metric ton of ore. Mining uses substantial amounts of energy and disrupts the environment. When companies recycle their unwanted electronics, the need for new gold resources declines significantly. The EPA emphasizes that electronics recycling reduces the amount of mining and new manufacturing to the point where it has a positive, measurable impact on the environment.

Companies who specialize in recycling electronics, like televisions, VCRs, DVRs, monitors of all kinds, computer hardware, portable devices, along with cords and cables can use each of these parts, sometimes refurbishing and other times recycling them. Dell, for example, builds computers and servers to order, and if someone cancels, Dell builds the system anyway and sells the brand new product as a refurbished unit. This practice helps consumers buy new products that they may not otherwise be able to afford and stretch their dollars to invest in other areas of technology.

Finding a resource to help small and large businesses deal with an ever expanding inventory of unused and old electronics helps manage the equipment replacement process without having a harmful impact on the environment or the company’s bottom line. Companies who specialize in recycling these systems use tools to evaluate the condition of the equipment, and salvage the reusable parts and send the rest off to be properly recycled or destroyed.

It’s not uncommon to see that many businesses don’t realize the importance of proper disposal and find themselves discarding their stock of old electronics just as they would with any other form of garbage because they show valid concern for the confidential information contained within the components. However, NIST (National Institute for Standards and Technology) and DOD (Department of Defense) have set forth procedures  that clarify this process.

Following the NIST and DOD recommendations, we can provide the client with a Certificate of Destruction, assuring them that they followed the guidelines for data destruction. If the device is reusable, we will wipe it clean and install a new operating system.

Choosing a 501(c)(3) organization like Tech Dump to pick up the electronics will entitle an organization to a tax-deductible receipt for the donations. These donations benefit everyone, from the recyclers who dispose of them safely, to the manufacturers who can use recycled resources to make new equipment. Consumers who look for refurbished equipment also win, since they’re purchasing a product that saves money and could be good as new.