As we enter 2025, it’s time to look at the things your company needs to change. If you haven’t partnered with a certified electronics recycler, 2025 is the time to do so. Many businesses believe that dropping off electronics at a local facility or selling them online is the best practice, but that can become a nightmare. 

As you swap old equipment for the latest technology or replace broken electronics, you need to carefully choose who you partner with. Certified electronics recyclers, like ERI, are essential in 2025 for all the following reasons.

 

It Makes Your Business Look Better

One of the leading reasons to make sure you partner with a certified electronics recycler is because it makes you look better to the media and public. In 2021, a major U.S. retailer was found to have dumped more than 80 tons of hazardous waste and electronics in California landfills. 

Not only did this cost the company $7.5 million in penalties and refunds, but the company also had to hire a third-party company. That company would complete waste audits several times a year for four years. This wasn’t the first time this had happened. It’s also not the first retailer to be charged with similar complaints of illegally disposing of broken or unused electronics.

Each time this happens, the media reports on it. Consumer trust falters. Failure to partner with responsible, ethical e-recyclers can become costly both from a financial perspective and in terms of public trust.

 

It Reduces Costs

Partnering with a certified e-recycler also helps save money. Going back to the retailers who were fined by the courts, that’s just one of the ways that your costs are reduced.

Your company’s electronics may be outdated for you, but they can have parts that are valuable for companies that refurbish electronics. When you choose a company that is certified, you get some money back. That money reduces the cost of deleting data so that you comply with laws and regulations. You can also reinvest that money in the new computers, phones, tablets, and other electronics you need to run your business. 

Not convinced? ERI was tasked with a decommissioning project where our team recycled more than 250 tons of electronics for a Fortune 500 company. This included data centers, offices, and headquarters. After data was wiped to meet regulatory requirements, items were remarketed. The money the company gained through remarketing covered a third of the decommissioning project. You save a lot of money this way.

 

It’s an Essential Part of Data Security and Fraud Prevention

When you have devices that contain data, you need to make sure that data is wiped before getting rid of it. It may be a legal requirement, but it can also be to protect your business. Imagine the damage that could happen if someone bought a laptop that still had trade secrets on it. 

Many people feel that resetting a device to factory settings is all it takes. That’s not the case. That will delete the pathway to personal information, but it doesn’t delete the personal information. It’s still hidden deep in the device where anyone with enough know-how could retrieve it.

 

It’s Legally Required

If your company stores information for your employees, contractors, or customers/clients, you’re responsible for protecting it. From HIPAA laws for medical practices, hospitals, and doctors to the Fair Credit Reporting Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act for financial institutions, data protection is legally required. This includes:

Bank account numbersCredit card informationDates of birthDriver’s license informationDrug test resultsLegal or mailing addressesMedical reportsPassport numbersPhone numbersSSNsTax forms like W2s

If that information isn’t protected or wiped from any devices you recycle, sell, give away, or lose track of, you face fines and other financial penalties.

One of the best examples of how costly this can be happened a couple of years ago with Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC. The well-known financial firm hired a company to decommission a data center, and that company didn’t properly delete data before auctioning the electronics. Devices still had PII on them. In addition to class action lawsuits that led to millions in settlements, the company was also hit with a $60 million fine.

All third-party vendors tasked with electronics recycling need to be carefully vetted and follow rules. Choosing a certified electronics recycler ensures these precautions are taken. Contact us today to figure out where you can get started.

 

You Conserve Valuable Resources

Look at a basic computer design. Inside the case is a central processing unit (CPU), cooling fan¸ expansion cards for connecting peripherals, hard drive, memory cards, motherboard, network card, power supply, sound card, and video card. Each of these components is made of metal, plastic, and even glass or ceramics. 

Depending on the age of the computer, the CPU, hard drive, memory, and motherboard may contain gold. The CPU, power supply, and wires contain copper. Aluminum is abundant in the case, frame, and heatsinks. The frame and screws that hold the case together often are made from steel.

These metal components are valuable as they can be recycled, melted, and reused. Plastic and rubber are also recyclable. Resistors may be coated in ceramics, which is harder to recycle, but the metal beneath the ceramic coating has value.

All these items can be reused in some way. While ceramics are not commonly considered for recycling, you can still crush ceramics down and use the material in road underlayment.

 

You Gain Peace of Mind

Working with a certified e-recycler ensures peace of mind that you’ve done everything you can to recycle legally and responsibly. If anything happens months or years from now, you have paperwork in hand to prove you did everything legally required of you. You have the certificate of data destruction, which helps you avoid fines and legal penalties.

 

You Take Steps to Reduce E-Waste in Landfills

There’s also satisfaction that you have done your part to help protect the environment. You aren’t sending your electronics to a landfill where they break down for decades or even centuries. 

Today’s landfills are designed with layers of clay, HDPE membranes, and leachate pipes where liquids from decomposing trash go to storage tanks. Those liquids go to wastewater treatment plants. 

In the past, the HDPE membranes were not used. It’s a newer design and no one can state exactly how long this will last. After our generations have passed on, future generations could end up with landfills where the membranes break down and leachate seeps into the soil and groundwater. Keeping hazardous materials out of a landfill is essential for that reason. 

 

What Certifications Should You Look For?

At a bare minimum, choose an electronics recycler that has these certifications.

e-StewardsNAID AAAR2

Those three certificates ensure the electronics recycling partner is as dedicated to protecting data security as they are to their workers, people around the world, and the environment. Those are just three of the many certificates held by ERI. We’re a leader in ethical, responsible, secure data destruction and electronics recycling.

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