Free data destruction for new School customers.
We're offering new customers from the education sector an enticing gimme in the shape of free data destruction.
We'll wipe the hard drive of every computer that we recycle for you. Each hard drive is wiped to US. Dept of Defence standards and is erased 5 times to ensure that all data is removed. The disks are then physically shredded too. Read our schools page for more info about how work with Colleges and Schools.
The potentially high cost of 'free' recycling.
There seems to be no end of Recycling and Waste Disposal companies that will dispose of your old computer and IT equipment for free.
The trouble is that while getting rid of your old computers might be free for you, someone else could be paying.
Let's take a look at a few ways some unscrupulous 'freecyclers' might be paying for their recycling services.
Shipping toxic waste to Africa.
There's been alot of coverage recently about the black market trade in old WEEE equipment to Africa and Asia. As investigative TV shows like Panorama have uncovered, there are unscrupulous companies who send out old computer equipment to the developing world for hundreds of pounds a tonne. When the old equipment reaches the other end it is 'mined' for metals by children with no protective clothing or breathing apparatus and the left over waste is dumped in landfill.
NOT SO FUN FACT number 1.
Each month 600 containers of electronic waste arrive in Ghana. Most of it is obsolete and ends up in landfill.
NOT SO FUN FACT number 2.
40% of this waste workers in Ghana are children.
So when a company or charity says it is shipping your old computers to Africa you should always ask to see proof.
Are they selling your computers (with your data on) for scrap? And if they are shipping them to African schools, which schools? Many schools in Africa still do not have electricity so computers won't be of much use to them.
The reality may be that they are simply shipping your computers to Africa to be sold as secondhand goods. There is nothing wrong with that - it is still computer 'recycling' in one sense. However if you're giving your computers on the understanding that a school child will benefit then be sure to check that they will.
Better than free.
Many companies offer free pickups and collections on the offchance that they will be able to sell on the components or whole computers. Again, there is nothing wrong with this, the customer and it is better that they are re-used than broken down into scrap.
The question to ask yourself here is could you sell the computers to the recycling company? If there are a lot of computers they might represent several hundred pounds to the recycling company which means they might be willing to pay your for them.
If you find that your old IT equipment isn't worth anything then ask yourself how anyone else is going to make any money out of it.
Now is the time to contact a reputable company to take your old IT equipment away so you can be sure that it is disposed of properly. Choose a company that operates along traditional lines of passing on their transport and paperwork costs to the customer. As a customer you can be sure that they are operating their business along ethical and sustainable lines. Best of all you get piece of mind that you're doing the right thing and your old computers won't end up somewhere they shouldn't.
What happens to your computer when it goes off for recycling?
We've written an article on this very subject. Download the pdf here.
Old computers turned into art.
Here’s a service we won’t be offering any time soon. An artist in silicon valley is turning old computers into art. The San Jose Museum of Art is hosting the exhibition which chronicles the speed of change in the computer industry.
Thanks to http://www.earthtechling.com/2011/11/san-jose-e-waste-upgraded-to-artwork/ for the original article.
