The average laptop lasts around 3 to 8 years before needing to be replaced, the average tablet around 5 to 7 years, and the average PC around 5 to 8 years.
When it’s time to upgrade your tech, you might wonder what to do with old computers for responsible recycling or disposal.
You do have two main options, and they’re both simple and more convenient than you may realize.
You Can Donate Your Old Computers
The first option is to donate your old tech to a nonprofit or charitable organization like Opportunity Village. Nonprofits can turn your old tech into tools they’ll use to further their mission and bring greater good to local communities. You get new tech, they get “new to them” tools they can repurpose or sell.
Donated tech should be usable, and this is an excellent option for computers and tablets that are within their usual lifespan and still working well. Tablets older than 7 years, or computers and laptops over 8 years old should not be donated but responsibly recycled instead.
Along with their typical lifespan, the tech should also be working well when donated. This means the power should be able to be turned on and off, screen issues fixable, and the battery should be able to take a charge. Before donating any used tech, make sure the memory is wiped clean and any personal information removed from the device. Many don’t realize just how much personal information is stored on these devices.
The Opportunity Village Thrift Store also accepts tablets and working tech as long as the memory is wiped and the device returned to factory settings.
Recycle Computers That Can’t Be Donated
If your old tech can’t be donated for any reason, like lack of functionality or the device is past its typical lifespan, you should responsibly recycle it. Tech with broken or missing parts, battery issues, devices older than 7 to 8 years, and items that don’t work should also be recycled.
Wondering ‘why recycle’? Why can’t I simply throw away my old devices? When wondering what to do with old computers, it’s important to learn a little bit about why tech is dangerous for local landfills. Devices like tablets and computers use toxic metals and flame retardants, which then create serious environmental impact when they break down in a landfill setting.
Additionally, devices should not simply be thrown out with your usual recycling, as this may lead to these materials winding up in your local landfills anyway.
An electronics recycling center can safely and effectively dispose of your old electronics without environmental worry.
Best Practices To Get Your Tech Ready For Donation Or Disposal
Whether you’re donating or disposing of your old tech, there are a few things you should do first to ensure safety for your personal information. A few best practices to get your tech ready for donation or disposal are:
- If you’re planning to donate your used tech, make sure the hard drive and memory is cleared and remove all of your personal files. You may want to go to a professional service to help with this and ensure all personal information has been removed.
- If you’re planning to dispose of your tech by recycling, make sure to have the hard drive cleared at minimum, but it’s best to have the hard drive shredded. Destruction by a professional shredding company ensures the hard drive is completely destroyed.
Why shred your hard drive? It’s the only way to completely ensure everything that was once on your tech cannot be retrieved.
How Does Hard Drive Shredding Work?
You’ve heard that you can shred paper documents, but how do you shred a part of a device, like a hard drive?
First, the hard drive is removed from the device it once called home. Once removed, the serial number is recorded on a separate manifest (owners may opt out of this manifest by signing a supplemental authorization).
Paper Pros by Opportunity Village follows the AAA NAID-certified process for hard drive destruction. A process called the “Sledgehammer-Punch” method is used to puncture the hard drive’s internal platter in order to render it completely unreadable.
How To Dispose Of Information Containing Media
Now that you know what to do with your old computer and why hard drive destruction is important before recycling, do you have other storage media that contains personal information? These can (and should) be shredded as well.
Paper Pros regular shredding equipment works well for paper, credit cards, x-rays, microfiche and CD/DVD destruction.
For media devices like SD cards, NVMe drives, destruction requires equipment able to carry out the “chipper method”. The Blind Center of Nevada, a fellow non-profit organization, has a comprehensive e-cycling program and offers hard drive destruction services as well as other e-cycling methods. More information can be found by visiting The Blind Center of Nevada website.
When it’s time to upgrade your old tech, you don’t have to keep the old stuff around gathering dust. Paper Pros has the hard drive destruction services you need to ensure you can move on from old devices with confidence. To learn more about shredding services contact Paper Pros in Las Vegas.
