What Makes E-Waste Recycling Indispensable?

 

The electronic devices are increasingly becoming cheaper these days. The rising growth in the electronics industry has resulted in the massive issue of end-of-life (EOL) electronics or electronic waste. With the growing quantity of electronic waste, the need for electronic recycling programs has also grown. Let’s get an insight into e-waste and the significance of electronic recycling: 

E-waste

The end-of-life electronic devices known as e-scrap or e-waste include items like televisions, stereos, mobile phones and computer equipment. These things can often be recycled or refurbished but a good amount ends up in landfills. It has been estimated that only 20 percent of the global electronic waste is recycled and the rest 80 percent ends up in landfills.

Ways in which consumers can recycle their old electronics

People get access to opportunities of recycling depending on the location where they reside. The best option to deal with electronic waste is to donate your old electronic equipment that can be recycled or reused as is. Make sure that your personal information is wiped from the electronic devices before you donate them. Other opportunities of local electronic recycling include authorized electronics recycler locations, retailer take back programs or electronics recycling events. 

Can you throw e-waste in trash?

Your location and equipment decides whether you can throw your electronic waste in trash. Consider your specific state legislation but it’s advisable to recycle. Know that certain cities or communities have policies in place that ban electronic waste even when there is no such ban at the state level. Make sure to use the services of recyclers who are certified via either of the voluntary certification programs that have been established to guarantee responsible recycling. 

Importance of electronic recycling 

Rich raw materials source: Electronic waste is a rich source of raw materials internationally and only ten to fifteen percent of the gold in electronic waste is recovered successfully while the rest is lost. E-waste contains deposits of precious metals that are estimated to be between forty and fifty times richer than ores that are mined from the earth’s surface. 

Toxic materials: Since old electronic devices comprise toxic substances like mercury, lead, chromium and cadmium, adequate processing is pivotal to make sure that these materials do not get released into the environment. They might also contain other toxic chemical flame retardants and heavy chemicals.

    

International movement of harmful waste: The uncontrolled movement of electronic waste to countries where inexpensive labor and primal approaches to recycling have lead to health risks to residents that are exposed to the release of toxins. 

Advantages of Destroying Data In-House

 

Data deleted from hard drives and hard disks can be easily recovered via special software and other methods. Adequate destruction of hardware has become a crucial need among businesses. Any kind of storage media that is left undestroyed can make a company vulnerable to data thefts. The range of devices utilized in modern enterprises makes a proper data destruction process vital. Organizations that need to control their data and make sure that it gets destroyed can get an advantage from keeping their processes in-house. Here’s a look at the reasons to consider in-house data destruction:  

Control over the distinct steps of the process

It is vital to keep track of the sensitive data that is controlled by the government or the industry regulations. Organizations are required to document what they have done and what is needed to protect data at all times. This can be risky when companies need to manually record the location of decommissioned hard disks, track hard disk drives during shipment to a 3rd party specialist, monitor the disks before shipping them and confirm that the storage media has been effectively destroyed. When data destruction is done in-house, documentation becomes easier by removing any 3rd party stakeholders and problems of visibility that occur by depending on an outsider are eliminated.   

Guarantee of destruction

There are multiple methods accessible to erase data but not all function equally well. Physical destruction of data can be troublesome in case a disk does not get properly shredded. Physical access to important parts of a disk can make data accessible to expert hackers. Magnetic data wipes done by a hard disk degausser are capable of destroying all the information on the hard disk, making the data completely unrecoverable. Inadequate technologies and human error can happen if companies are not completely aware about whom they partner with. One method to save yourself from this risk is to keep the destruction process in-house. 

Control over operational expenditures

The long-term expenditures of paying for a service can add up to more than a company would spend on hardware-based solutions. Degaussers can allow an organization to recover the primary cost of purchase by saving on service subscriptions. Security and control combine with the long-term cost benefits to create effective return on investment for organizations that run through a good number of hard disks.