A lithium-ion battery sparked a fire at the Belle Fourche landfill this week, giving us another reminder of what can happen when batteries and electronics end up somewhere they shouldn’t.
For businesses, it’s worth paying attention to. Think about how many lithium batteries are probably inside your organization right now. Laptops, cell phones, tablets, power tools, UPS units, battery backups and other rechargeable equipment have become part of everyday operations. Eventually, every one of those devices reaches the end of its useful life, and somebody has to decide what happens next.
The Dumpster Isn’t a Disposal Plan
Lithium-ion batteries can become a serious fire hazard when they’re crushed, punctured or damaged. When they end up in the trash, that damage can happen in a garbage truck, compactor, transfer station or landfill.
Businesses also have another concern that goes beyond the battery itself. Many of the devices we’re talking about contain company, customer or employee data. An old laptop may no longer have value to your organization, but the information stored on it doesn’t disappear just because the device has been taken out of service.
That makes proper disposition both a safety issue and a data security issue.
What Happens When You’re Done With It?
Most businesses have a pretty good process for bringing technology into their organization. There’s a purchasing process, someone sets it up, IT manages it and, hopefully, the asset is tracked throughout its useful life.
The process on the other end isn’t always as clear.
Old equipment gets put in a storage room or stacked on a pallet until there’s enough of it that someone finally asks what to do with it. At that point, your organization should already know the answer.
A good IT asset disposition process accounts for where equipment is going, how data will be securely destroyed, whether usable devices have resale or reuse value, how batteries and non-reusable equipment will be responsibly recycled, and what documentation the organization will receive when the job is complete.
Have a Plan Before You Have a Problem
Battery-powered technology isn’t going away. If anything, businesses are going to have more of it to manage in the years ahead. Waiting until you’ve accumulated a room full of old electronics isn’t the best time to start figuring out what happens to them.
The fire in Belle Fourche is a good reminder to take a look at your own process. What happens to your laptops, batteries and other electronics when your organization is finished with them? If the answer isn’t clear, it may be time to put a plan in place.
At SEAM, we help businesses securely manage retired technology through data destruction, electronics resale and responsible recycling, including proper management of batteries and other potentially hazardous components.
Knowing where your equipment goes at end-of-life protects more than the environment. It protects your data, your organization and the people who handle that equipment after it leaves your door.
Clint Parsons is the Director of Strategy and Information at SEAM, specializing in building partnerships with businesses of all sizes. He ensures clients effectively navigate secure data destruction, responsible recycling, and maximize the resale value of their IT equipment while staying compliant with evolving regulations.