We at IT-recycling have been cleaning up computer materials from a special group of users: secondary and higher education.
In this blog, I would like to share some of our experiences and give a few tips to those who do system administration at a school and have to deal with discarded computer hardware.
DATA DESTRUCTION:
The lion’s share of the computers that are student PCs.
On these PCs stand
at only information that students.
In my opinion it is big nonsense to destroy data on these.
For the servers of the school and systems used by teachers and management we are dealing with sensitive data that should be properly destroyed.
TIP: Do not have data destruction performed on student PCs.
SALE OF OLD HARDWARE TO STUDENTS/PARENTS:
I have been doing this work for 25 years and in the early days old school hardware was often offered to parents/children.
Or initiatives came up with computers for third world countries.
Nowadays this really has no use anymore.
The return is very low and people are not waiting for an old computer at home.
Moreover, it involves super much work for the system administrators.
I would definitely advise against it.
TIP : DO NOT sell to students/parents.
SALE OF OLD HARDWARE TO THE COLLECTOR:
As I said, these days old computers don’t fetch much.
But if they are not very old they can still be monetized by a buyer.
To handle this properly you need to know what you have.
Therefore, before you approach the buyer, try to make sure you know (approximately) how much of what kind of hardware you have.
If your depreciated computer hardware is older than four years or so, you can save yourself this trouble.
When approaching a buyer, only deal with a solid company.
And the best way to separate the wheat from the chaff is WEEELABEX certification.
A reprocessor MUST have WEEELABEX certification, it is required by law.
Here is the list of companies that have WEEELABEX: http://www.weeelabex.org/conformity-verification/operators/#weeelabex_operator_list
TIP : First, make sure you know what you want to sell.
Older than four years old?
Don’t bother, no one will want it.
TIP : Looking for a good buyer?
Check the WEEELABEX list first.
WHERE AND HOW DO YOU STORE OLD COMPUER HARDWARE IN THE SCHOOL?
We often see schools storing their “collection” of old hardware junk somewhere in an unused classroom, old broom closet, somewhere in an attic or in any place that is far away and especially hard to reach.
School buildings often have no elevator or only a disabled elevator.
And the system administrators then put their depreciated computer waste at the very top of the building.
This is just very inconvenient, especially for the system administrators.
After all, they have to go up the stairs for every few computers and monitors.
This is really a waste of time.
We have a number of customers who have made lockable facilities outside, such as a lockable piece of bike sheds.
Of course, it is important that curious students cannot access it.
Another advantage of the lockable facility is that you can use bins, crates or containers, really very convenient.
Many service providers offer them on loan for free!
TIP : Provide a convenient and lockable place on first floor for storage of old hardware.
WHAT DOES ALL THAT COST?
Finally, we will talk about costs and perhaps benefits when it comes to hardware that is still marketable.
So the benefits/costs consist of three components namely costs of recycling computer waste, costs of destroying data and revenues from equipment that is still marketable.
Most providers will want to pick up old hardware for free.
They can do that because there are still metals in it and they do cover the cost.
The cost of data destruction will be similar for all good service providers.
Think about 6 to 9 euros per hard disk.
TIP: Pay attention to the quality of service and only deal with truly trusted parties.
— The photos accompanying this blog were taken last week at MillHill College in Goirle.
Part of OMO one of the largest high school combinations in the country.