What To Do With End Of Life Electronics

Every company is responsible to manage their end of life electronics properly. It’s essential for compliance and company branding. It can help trim down possible expenses as well. Most importantly, it lessens the environmental and health dangers that e-waste brings.

To make the most out of non-usable electronics and nearly obsolete ones, you have to form a plan. Below are some steps you can take to deal with such items.

1. Let an inspector assess your obsolete equipment.
Before planning where e-waste goes, instruct an in-house inspector or hire someone to check the condition of each item. Ask him to report which items can still be reused according to their original functions. Furthermore, the report should cover raw materials that can be recovered. When reuse and recovery aren’t possible, let him detail which ones should be sent to e-recycling facilities.

2. Manage the data accordingly.
Regardless of the destination of the electronics, you should handle the data before allowing others to have access to them. Make sure all the pertinent data stored in each device have been transferred or copied to your new sets of equipment. Once done, destroy all the remaining data whether they’re still in-tact or in not.

3. Look within the company for reusing opportunities.
Reusing equipment will help the company reduce potential expenses. The savings aren’t that big but will still be beneficial to some employees. However, you should only reuse electronics that still have a few years left before they turn obsolete. Those that are already deemed obsolete but remains in good condition can still be reused as well.

4. Contract a company for e-recycling.
An e-recycling company has facilities and processes that enable efficient recovery of reusable parts and raw materials. When you hire their services, you don’t even have to find an electronics inspector yourself. The company is more likely to have one in their staff.

One of the best things about contracting an e-recycling company is that they’re bound to deal with the disposal once they’re done recovering materials. Although it’s helpful for your brand, managing e-waste disposal on your own can entail additional workers to employ.

5. Donate to a charity that will surely reuse the equipment or the recovered parts.
Donating formerly used electronics is a tricky thing. There’s the issue on health risks. In case yours don’t come with this problem, they’re likely to have efficiency issues.

There’s also the possibility that the charity may sell or donate the items to a less fortunate organization. Worse, they may ship the electronics overseas. Thus, before you decide to donate, make sure you screened the receiver properly. It’s also ideal to make an agreement regarding the use of your donation.

6. Sell the recovered raw materials.
Most charities don’t have the capability to process raw materials and reuse them. To take advantage of the recovered glass, plastics and metals, it’s better to sell them to a manufacturer that uses those as raw materials for their products. You don’t have to worry about your data because these said materials aren’t able to hold those.

Proper e-waste management entails cost on your part as a company. However, you can recoup your expenses by selling or reusing many of them. Moreover, the overall costs remain lower compared to the penalties from illegal disposal. You’ll also skip the bad rep that comes with unethical disposal.