An Eco-Friendly Future for IT Asset Disposal

When South Dakota businesses update their IT infrastructure with new equipment and devices, their biggest concern is likely finding the solutions that best meet their current and predicted future needs, followed closely by ensuring cost-effective solutions that fit their budget.  However, as a responsible business owner, you also have to consider the best way to dispose of the outdated equipment you’re replacing.

Unfortunately, these devices may contain sensitive data that you are required to protect under consumer privacy laws.  These laws dictate specific avenues for data disposal.  In addition, you have to consider the impact to the environment whenever you dispose of electronic waste, including computers, hard drives, mobile devices, and office equipment like printers and copiers, for example.

The good news is, you can meet all of your legal obligations by working with a certified ITAD service provider that offers both wiping and shredding options.  Whether you hope to remarket devices or you want to dispose of them completely, you can do so in a safe and eco-friendly manner.

Benefits of Wiping Hard Drives

If you’re looking to remarket devices in order to recoup some cost, wiping is the best solution, provided it is done in a manner that complies with applicable privacy laws, as well as any industry regulations (HIPAA, FACTA, etc.) your business is required to observe.  Naturally, this is advantageous from a financial standpoint, but how does it benefit the environment?

The three Rs of eco-friendly operations are reduce, reuse, and recycle.  Wiping and remarketing IT equipment and devices falls under the second criteria.  By selling these items for reuse, you’re keeping them out of the landfill, which reduces waste, extends their life cycle, and ostensibly reduces demand for new devices, preventing the need for additional manufacturing (and the waste and pollution the process entails).

In other words, you not only get some money back when you choose to remarket devices that still have some use value, but you do your part to disrupt the cycle of treating IT assets as disposable goods.  This helps to curb pollution related to manufacturing of new devices from recycled materials.

Benefits of Shredding

If your devices are deemed too old or outdated to offer resale potential, or you’re at all concerned about the wiping process, you always have the option to shred hard drives or storage media, and this can be environmentally beneficial, as well.  While reusing equipment is more eco-friendly, shredding devices not only destroys data, in compliance with consumer privacy laws, but it allows for recycling, so that valuable components can go toward making new products.

Every part of IT assets can be reclaimed.  This is good for the environment because it reduces the total amount of waste product and provides an alternative to collecting or creating new materials, such as metals, potentially decreasing the demand for mining, manufacturing, and other processes that entail pollution and waste.

If your South Dakota business is ready to upgrade to new IT assets and do away with old ones, contact the certified ITAD service providers at SEAM today at 605-274-7326 (SEAM) or online to learn more about our secure and eco-friendly services.