If you’ve ever opened up a browser and typed “ Computer recycling near me “ in order to get rid of excess IT equipment, you may have unknowingly put your company in danger.
Google will give you a list of computer recyclers within a relatively short distance to your location. It won’t tell you which one of those recyclers is certified and licensed or which ones completely destroy your hard drives vs. selling them.
Why is that important?
When you search for “ Computer recycling near me “, you will be shown a list of nearby recyclers that may (hopefully not) be selling your devices without removing and destroying the hard drives. Those drives contain all of your business information, banking, employee data, client data, and possibly student info or health info.
Will they be conveniently located? Yes.
But that’s not what’s important when you’re dealing with your company’s sensitive data. What is important is finding a recycler that is certified, secure, and has a good reputation in the industry. Look for computer recyclers that are R2 Certified, shred your data on or off site, and own their own trucks.
Trucks
A computer recycler that owns their own trucks can come to you without hiring a 3rd party service to handle the logistics. That means that “ Computer recycling near me “ is a relative term. If a recycler travels to your location frequently, then it doesn’t matter if they are in your zip code or even your state.
The Win-Win
Most businesses save up their electronic waste, either in a locked room or lockable bins. This allows them to call for a recycling pick up at regular intervals – often once a month, once a quarter, or just a few times per year. If that business only calls the recyclers near them, they may get a mix of some legitimate, licensed recyclers, some unlicensed recyclers that won’t say what happens to your equipment, and a few that will pick up your equipment for free and then plan on selling it for a profit… without fully removing your data.
On the other hand, searching for “Hard drive shredding” or “secure data destruction” will return a list of recyclers that will definitely destroy your data. They might not be near your location, but if secure data destruction is their specialty, AND they can pick up your equipment at your schedule, and you can be sure that you, your business, and your customer’s information will be secure, isn’t that the win-win?