In this age of technology, people depend on machines for every aspect of their lives. Smartphones are used as a phone and address book, calculator, bank, and now, even credit cards. PC’s and laptops are used for shopping, emailing, storing important documents, and maintaining pictures and videos. Even our GPS systems in our vehicles contain our home address and contact information.

So what happens when you want to recycle your electronic waste? How do you protect your information and your identity from those who may want to steal it? What are some important things you can do to prepare your technology for recycling?

It is important to understand that simply deleting items and information from your hard drives or systems will not protect your information. Deleted items can be resurfaced and used. There are many data recovery programs and options that are available for the general consumer. To protect yourself, you must go a step further and wipe your system. When recycling, you can find recycling companies that will do this for you, or you can do it yourself. While this is certainly not a bad thing from a capitalistic perspective, a few problems have been created by electronic waste. As consumers continuously upgrade every year or two, there are a lot of electronics that find their way to the trash. This is where the problems start. Conventional landfills were not created for electronic waste. When a phone or a computer is sent to a landfill, the components are crushed. As this happens, many toxic materials leak out and into the earth. These toxins then become emitted into our atmosphere – causing health problems for humans, animals, and the environment.

Research

Before preparing your electronics for recycling, it is important to do your research. First, determine whether your recycler is a reliable entity. Do they offer a certificate of destruction? Do they have positive user reviews? Are they involved in any litigation that is beyond the normal course of business or related to identity theft and stolen information? A reliable company will offer a certificate of destruction when the object has been wiped and/or destroyed.  In addition, they will have earned positive reviews from satisfied customers, often offering details about the process.  

Wipe

Once you have completed your research, you will know whether your recycler will wipe the data from the equipment for you or you will have to do so on your own. If you have to do so on your own, make sure you purchase a well-known and effective wiping program. Such programs, such as Window Washer or Wipe Drive are effective tools for clearing the data completely from your object’s hard drive. If you are responsible to wipe it yourself, you may want to search the drive for remnants of information. If your recycler can do it for you, ask for a certificate of destruction to utilize as proof that it was completed, and everything is cleared from the device.

Recycle

Now that you have researched and wiped, you are ready to recycle. There are many different options for e-waste recycling, from donations to auctions, to refurbishing. Again, research is key in this step to help determine how to recycle your e-waste. With a little research, you will find whether the technology you possess is still useable and in high demand on its own or would be better used a scrap metal for new technology. For instance, a cell phone that is two years old may be highly sought after for women’s shelters or other charities, wherein a first generation iPod may be best used as parts for a new technology.