Properly IT Equipment Disposal Practices for Small Businesses

When you are running a business, you are going to be highly dependent on certain types of equipment. You might choose to purchase some equipment rather than lease it, because you might find it is cheaper in the long run. However, you will also need to deal with some other issues, such as maintenance and properly disposing of it.

One of the biggest hassles that small business owners face is knowing how to dispose of their old equipment. Manufacturing companies often discover the challenges of managing their own equipment after deciding to break into this sector. However, this is even more important for businesses that rely on IT equipment, because it has to be disposed of much more carefully.

In the modern workplace, technology is essential. Most jobs would be unable to function without equipment such as laptops, desktop computers, and smartphones. Depending on the size of your company you have a sizable amount of IT equipment and replacements may be common based on technology need or simply replacing old equipment that has broken. IT Asset Disposition or ITAD involves making sure your old IT equipment is properly and safely disposed of. You cannot simply throw your old IT equipment in a dumpster and there are companies that specialize in ITAD that can help ensure your company’s old equipment is properly dealt with.

Why You Need an ITAD Specialist

When you need to dispose of old IT equipment trusting a professional to do the job provides many benefits.

• Protect Company Data: while you should clean important data from hard drives and storage devices when you decommission them it is still possible for something to be missed. This can put your company and customers at risk and with identity theft being a common crime in the modern world safety is a key concern. An ITAD specialist will ensure that any information saved on your equipment is properly removed.
• Proper Disposal: electronic waste and proper disposal is an important issue and one many companies and governments worldwide are working to address. As a business owner, you undoubtedly want to make sure that your old IT equipment doesn’t end up being part of a larger problem. An ITAD specialist can recycle your old equipment and in many cases repurpose it for use in other applications without any danger to your company’s data. Refurbishing old equipment not only helps those with limited resources it also cuts down on waste. 
• Battery Dangers: many electronic products contain lithium batteries which can be hazardous if they are not disposed of properly. Lithium batteries can catch fire or explode if they are correctly handled during the disposal process. In addition, lithium batteries can pollute the atmosphere or groundwater if they are left to break down without proper precautions. A professional ITAD company will ensure your equipment’s batteries present no hazards to people or the environment.
• Salvaging Rare Materials: when your old equipment is recycled there are many valuable metals and minerals that can be salvaged and reused in product development. By salvaging rare metals you greatly reduce the need for the work involved to acquire these materials in the first place. As many of these components are hard to come by this is very useful and protects the environment.

Final Thoughts

As a business owner, you may have accumulated a lot of IT equipment over time. You need to know what to do with it after.

Disposing of old computers and company smartphones is more complex than it first appears. You want to know that valuable information is removed from any storage devices and that when your equipment is removed, it is properly handled, recycled, repurposed if possible, and if it has to be disposed of handled safely by experts. Hiring a professional means you don’t to worry about the process or anything that could be missed. ITAD experts are focused on providing the best disposal procedures and that compliance with government regulations is properly followed.