Equipment Disposal & Recycling: Reuse, Data Security and Fees

Old laptops on a closet shelf, a drawer of retired phones, a printer nobody has used in years: every organization collects equipment it no longer needs. This article explains what happens to that equipment, how we decide whether it can be reused, how company data is destroyed before anything leaves your control, what disposal costs, and a simple way to clear out surplus equipment at each of your locations.

Equipment Comes Back to IT First

When an employee leaves, changes roles or receives a replacement device, their equipment is returned as described in How to Return Company Equipment: in person to their supervisor or Human Resources, or with a return shipping label if they work remotely in the US. That article also lists what must come back: laptops, desktops, monitors, docking stations, tablets, mobile devices and any other serialized asset.

Once equipment is back, it goes through the review below. Company devices should never be thrown out, sold, donated or handed to someone else until IT has reviewed and wiped them.

Reuse, Keep as a Spare, or Retire?

Not every older device needs to go. We look at its age, its condition and whether it still receives security updates, then recommend whether to reuse it (or keep it as a spare) or retire it. Your organization makes the final call.

Typical Useful Life

These are common industry guidelines, not hard rules. A well-kept device can last longer, and heavy daily use can shorten its life.

Replacing a retired device? See Submitting a Hardware or Software Request and Hardware Catalog & Lead Times.

How Company Data Is Protected

Laptops, desktops, servers, phones, tablets, copiers and even some printers and network devices store company information such as email, files, saved passwords and network settings. Deleting files or resetting a device does not reliably remove it. Before any equipment leaves your control:

1. Anything worth keeping is kept first. If the device belonged to someone who has left, any data your organization wants to keep must be retained before the device is erased. See Employee Termination: What Gets De-provisioned and How Data Retention Works.
2. It is removed from management. We remove the device from our management, security and backup tools and from Microsoft and Apple device enrollment, so it stops counting toward per-device licenses and can't be locked to your organization when it's reused or recycled.
3. The drives are destroyed. Hard drives and SSDs are removed and physically destroyed, so the data on them can't be recovered. Computers whose storage is built in and can't be removed are securely erased.
4. Phones and tablets are reset. Once a phone or tablet is released from management, it's erased with a full reset. Its storage is encrypted, so a full reset leaves the old data unreadable.
5. It is recycled responsibly. Equipment goes to an electronics recycler, never in the trash.

Certified Disposal (Additional Cost)

Standard disposal includes drive destruction, but not certified destruction. If your organization needs documented proof that its equipment and data were destroyed, ask for certified disposal in your request. You receive a certificate of destruction for your records, listing the items and their serial numbers. Certified disposal costs extra and is quoted with your request. Not sure you need it? See Do we need certified disposal?

Disposal Fees

Disposal fees cover handling, drive destruction, removal from management tools and recycling. They don't include certified disposal, which costs extra. Fees are charged per item and billed to your organization. We confirm the item list and the total with your organization before anything is collected.

• Fees may change. Equipment that isn't listed is quoted on request.
• Devices that are reused or kept as spares don't have a disposal fee.
• Leased equipment usually goes back to the leasing company instead. Check your lease before you include it.

What We Can't Accept

• Large printers and copiers: floor-standing copiers and multifunction printers, wide-format printers and plotters, or anything else that doesn't fit on a desk. If it's leased, it goes back to the leasing company. If you own it, your copier dealer or a certified electronics recycler can take it.
• Monitors and TVs larger than 34 inches (measured diagonally). Take them to a certified electronics recycler, or to your town's transfer station or recycling center. Most charge a small fee.

How to Request Disposal

1. Gather and list. Your organization gathers the equipment in one spot (IT doesn't search buildings for it) and makes a quick list of item types and counts, for example "6 laptops, 2 desktops, 1 desk printer, 1 box of cables." A photo of the pile helps. Service tags or serial numbers are welcome but not required (see Locating your Computer Service Tag).
2. Submit a request. Use the equipment disposal request link. It opens the support form with the subject and a short checklist already filled in. Add your list, the location, whether you need certified disposal, and anything that needs extra care, such as swollen batteries or loose hard drives.
3. Review. We go through the list, mark each item Reuse, Spare or Retire, and send you the estimated disposal fees.
4. Approve. Someone authorized at your organization approves the list and the cost.
5. Hand-off. We collect the equipment during a scheduled onsite visit or on a pickup trip. Remote employees can ship devices with a return shipping label; the label cost is billed to your organization.
6. Done. Drives are destroyed and the equipment is recycled. If you chose certified disposal, you receive your certificate of destruction.

Prefer email? Send the same details to [email protected]. It opens a ticket too.

Clearing Out Storage Closets

Surplus equipment in closets and back rooms is easy to forget, but it isn't harmless:

• It still holds company data. An unwiped laptop in an unlocked closet is a data breach waiting to happen if it walks away.
• It loses value every month. A two-year-old laptop can be a useful spare today. In three more years it's e-waste.
• Old batteries can swell and, in rare cases, catch fire.

Finding and gathering surplus equipment is up to your organization; IT doesn't search buildings or storage areas for it. We recommend that your staff do a quick surplus review at each location once a year, and whenever you move, remodel or replace a batch of computers:

1. Choose one person at each location to own the review.
2. Collect everything with a plug or a battery that isn't in daily use: computers, monitors, phones, tablets, printers, network equipment, loose hard drives and USB drives.
3. Set aside anything that's leased, still in use somewhere, or someone's personal property.
4. Submit one disposal request per location with your list. We'll sort out what can be reused, kept as a spare or retired.

More Questions

Click a question to expand it.

Questions?

Not sure whether something can be reused, or whether we can take it? Submit a support request or email [email protected]. Either one opens a ticket.

For managers: when an employee leaves your organization, please also submit an offboarding request. See Employee Termination: Offboarding Request.