Essential Methods of Disposing Your Electronic Waste

 

E-waste is made from deadly chemicals like cadmium, lead, beryllium and mercury. When gadgets are disposed of in an improper manner, the hazardous substances present in them end up contaminating the soil and air and also reach water bodies. In spite of having services of local electronic recycling and corporate electronic recycling, a lot of e-waste ends up being shipped overseas and gadgets get buried in pits. It is vital that people adopt eco-friendly waste disposal methods so that they can dispose of their e-waste locally. Here’s a look at the distinct ways of safely disposing electronic waste: 

Sell your outdated electronics 

The electronic you are no longer using can be easily sold. Online websites like eBay and Craigslist can help you get rid of your outdated electronics and you can also earn money. You can also have a garage sale for your old electronic products and sell them to people who really need them. A lot of electronic shops are forever ready to buy old electronics from people. 

Give the electronics back your electronic company 

A range of electronic companies offer an exchange policy to their customers whereby they take back the old gadget from the customers when they buy a new version of the gadget. Customers also receive a discount on their new purchase. Some recycling companies have also set up initiatives for electronic drop off. They have drop off points for products like tablets and mobile phones. You can get in touch with local electronics shop to gain information concerning drop off locations.  

Give your e-waste to certified e-waste recycler

E-waste recycling equips you with good options of local electronic recycling. You need to get in touch with an e-waste recycler that is officially certified by the Basel Action Network (BAN). Basel Action Network is a non-profit organization of recycling companies that are dedicated to recycle electronic waste in a responsible and safe manner. All members are required to make a pledge and demonstrate their Pledges of Responsible Recycling. Thus, working with a certified recycler implies that you do not have to worry about risking losing your personal details to criminals or polluting another nation via export of e-waste. 

Go to civic Institutions

Enquire amongst your universities, schools and government for any programs of recycling they are running as a range of organizations have started assigning a particular place and day for citizens who are environmentally conscious to come and drop off their electronic waste. 

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.

A Quick Guide to Important Data Destruction Methods

 

When it comes to hard drive destruction or data destruction, there is not a large variety of methods and the thing that is common with all approaches is the requirement to dispose of them in a secure manner. Merely throwing away the old items is not sufficient. Without the adequate disposal of items, businesses run the risk of exposing client information, information insurance, and security arrangements. 

Here’s a look at the distinct types of data destruction methods that are available for your business:

Overwriting

In case you have data that remains on disks and storage media even after you have tried to erase it, then the most commonly used method to get rid of it is via overwriting the media with new data. The process is also called sanitization or data wiping. When the data is overwritten in such a manner, a pattern of 0s and 1s is written over the original information. At times, a random pattern is made use if and this makes for later verification that the drive has been wiped completely.

As overwriting hard drive data is made possible by software and is used selectively on all or part of a storage medium, it is a simple option for certain applications. Ensuring that all information is addressed, one pass is generally sufficient to remove all the data. Nevertheless, at times, high-security applications might need multiple wipes and this provides an added measure that ensures that the old data is destroyed. Overwriting is a cost-effective and eco-friendly option of data destruction.

Physical destruction

This method sounds like the most effective data destruction method and businesses can physically destroy data in a range of ways like melting, shredding, pulverizing, etc. The methods ensure that the hard drive becomes completely inoperable after the destruction. Physical destruction needs to be carried out with the help of high-powered equipment only. With the developments in technology, it has become possible to retrieve data even from damaged hard drives. When a process of data wiping is utilized prior to physically destroying the disk, it makes sure that the data is thoroughly destroyed. Reliable ITAD companies take upon themselves the task of effectively destroying data from the electronic equipment before disposing of it.

Degaussing

This method of data destruction makes use of a high-powered magnet to disturb the magnetic field of floppy disks, magnetic tapes, or hard disks. Once this is done, the data gets destroyed as part of the process. This is done by making use of a degausser. Degaussing ensures that data becomes completely unrecoverable in a less amount of time and this makes the process ideal for dealing with data that is highly sensitive. It decreases the labor resources and time required to overwrite information. The process of degaussing prevents the recovery of any company information by data recovery software or services, thereby strengthening the data security of your company from any outside threats. Degaussing diminishes the risks that are concerned with potentially damaging financial data, emails and proprietary information thereby uprooting the risks of compromising any information being exposed.

 

It’s Time to Handle The Quickest Increasing Stream of Waste

 

E-waste is one of the quickest developing waste streams on the planet. Every year, new customer gadgets and corporate hardware are getting utilized, and the old ones are getting disposed of. Over 90% of ewaste is dumped wrongfully, which is a significant issue. There is a rising interest in electronic recycling suppliers that can appropriately deal with that ewaste.

While a great many people discard their old contraptions such as hard drives, screen, keyboards, phones, laptops etc. which advance toward the landfills, that ewaste is taking up a significant a normal asset which could have been utilized for different purposes.

The IT hardware that you believe is a waste is valuable from various perspectives. Do you realize that there's gold, copper, silver and different components present in a large number of the IT hardware. The electronic reusing suppliers adhering to the public electronic reusing rules and guidelines appropriately treat every equipment thing to extricate the pivotal metals from these gadgets.

Along these lines, tossing them in the landfills aren't useful for anybody. As opposed to discarding them, one ought to all in all send them to the electronic reusing suppliers with the goal that those organizations can treat the ewaste the correct way, for example, the hard drive destruction should be carried by the professional recyclers only. These organizations classified the gadgets dependent on their sorts and class. In any case, make certain to contact just the authorized reusing specialist co-ops as such organizations will reuse the ewaste adhering to the standards and guidelines and spare nature from getting contaminated due to ewaste.

Information deleting is additionally another alternative for the organizations who would prefer not to go for equipment destruction. The pivotal information is eradicated from the capacity gadgets to prevent their information from getting into inappropriate hands.

How to Select A Trustworthy E-Waste Recycling Company for Your Business

 

In this technology-driven world, most of our items operate via electronic means and thus, the generation of electronic waste is rising phenomenally. As more and more advanced and superior versions of smartphones, computers and laptops are introduced regularly, people tend to irresponsibly dispose of their unused and old electronics in landfills. This habit in turn contributes to pollution and global warming. E-waste recycling plays a key role in disposing of old electronics in a responsible way. Let us have a look at some tips to select good e-waste company.

Select the company with proper credentials and certifications

Prior to selecting an electronic recycler, make sure that the company is functioning under strict environmental compliance. It is also important to know that the company is certified to carry out its job. Your chosen company should be either NAID certified or at least a member of the NAID.

Choose a firm that has specialization in their field

It is not good to assume that regular recycling companies provide services for e-waste recycling. Even though certain companies do provide this service, it is advisable to choose a firm that has specialization in both electronic waste recycling and hard drive destruction. When you choose a firm that has specialization in both the areas, your business is able to handle the task of electronic recycling in a less time consuming and more convenient manner.

 

5 Important Ways in Which Hard Drive Destruction Benefits Your Business

All businesses tend to accumulate hard drives. What does one do with these old and obsolete hard drives? In case you are in the process of improving your IT and freeing your business of old hard drives, then it is crucial for you take appropriate measures. This will ensure that you do not end up breaching data. Even though you might feel that the cheapest option is to destroy your hard drives on your own but this can put your data at the risk of getting accessed and used maliciously. Let us have a look here at how hard drive destruction can prove to be advantageous for businesses:

The data will become unrecoverable

For expert hackers and criminals, it is not tough to retrieve data from an erased hard drive, a hard drive that has been damaged or even a drive that has been left unattended or thrown away. Even when you wipe off the data that is stored in your device, there is no guarantee that it cannot be recovered. ITAD companies or data destruction companies make sure that your hard drive is physically destroyed. This further ensures that criminals become incapable of retrieving data from the device.

No worry of hefty fines

Not many are aware of this but if you do not dispose of your hard drives in a proper manner, you can expose yourself to huge fines. Whenever there is a security breach, it can result in costing you thousands of pounds and lead to a heavy bill. If you utilize the services of a data destruction company, you save yourself from such a situation.

Use your office space judiciously

When obsolete hard drives or other devices are just sitting around in your office, they can take up a good amount of space that could easily have been used for better purposes. In case you are in search of an extra room and you do not possess the equipment or the time to destroy the data by yourself, the best method is to outsource this task to professionals.

Keep your organization compliant

One of the crucial things about using the services of hard drive destruction is that their professionals have the required expertise. This implies that they possess the essential knowledge in terms of compliance and regulations when it comes to the destruction of storage media. Thus, you do not have to fear that you are breaching any data laws while disposing of your devices.

Entire data will be removed

One of the most important concerns when it comes to destroying storage media is making sure that all of the sensitive data is removed. The data destruction companies employ professional equipment for the process and thus, you can be assured that all of your data will be effectively removed from the device. You wouldn’t be worried a bit about your data falling into wrong hands. All you got to do is get in touch with a professional company that has the required equipment and expertise to do the destruction task properly for you.