In honor of Earth Day, I'd like to encourage everyone to recycle their electronics. As far as I've observed, most homes and businesses have a small to large stockpile of old electronics that they're holding on to (mine is no exception). As computers get replaced throughout the years, older ones get put in the closet (or attic, or basement, or garage, etc). Maybe another family member could use it. Maybe you'll find another use for it. Maybe there's some important data on it that requires the whole computer intact, along with all the accessories! Sorry, but no. Computers are so inexpensive these days that your family members don't want that 7 year old machine, and there's rarely a good way to repurpose an old, energy-inefficient computer. For a long while in the 90's and early 00's the prevailing impulse was "I'll donate it to a school!" Unfortunately, schools discovered that it was more of a burden and expense to have a hodgepodge of computers they had to support than it was to just buy brand new ones.
But what do you do with old computers, monitors, and other electronics? Well, the first answer is: don't throw it in the garbage! Electronics contain an incredible amount of reusable components, as well as elements that could be harmful to the environment if simply dumped. As an alternative to the trash bin, here's what I tell all my clients:
Take it to eAsset Solutions.
I don't think I've ever buzz marketed a local business on this blog before, but this one is worth mentioning because I've been very impressed by the work that they do. eAsset takes in all kinds of electronics and either reuses or recycles them. They have a "no landfill" policy, so everything that comes into their shop goes back out again to get reused somehow. Even if something is completely broken, they'll strip it down to its components and gather platters of parts to sell to other responsible vendors.
The environmental aspect of what eAsset Solutions does is great, but there's another advantage to taking your old equipment there: data destruction. Every hard drive that comes in the door is assessed. If it's in good shape with no bad "sectors" (tiny sections of hard drive platters), the drive is thoroughly wiped and resold. If however, the drive is no good or you're just not comfortable with it being reused, the drive is destroyed in a number of ways. They have a device akin to a giant single hole punch, which drives a rod straight through the platters, destroying them. They also have my favorite device, the hard drive shredder! Just imagine your little office shredder, but about 10 times bigger with steel teeth the size of Tic Tac boxes. Hard drives go in, tiny fragments of metal come out.
If you have old electronics lying around, take them to eAssest Solutions. Drop offs are free, and they charge small amounts for some of the more thorough data destruction processes like the hard drive shredding. Also, if you know of a small business that needs to recycle a large amount of computers, eAsset will come pick the equipment up and take care of everything.
It should be noted that some big box stores will take recycling too. The reason I'm recommending eAsset Solutions is because I've toured their facilities and I have more confidence in their practices. That's why I exclusively go to their facilities even though they're 17 miles away from me. I do not have any financial arrangement with them, I just like them.