What Do I Do With My Old Computers?
This is a question I’m sure we’ve all had before. We know that electronics typically shouldn’t be disposed of in the regular trash because of the batteries and potential other components that raise safety concerns. However, because it is not well advertised or obvious, most people may dispose of their old computers and electronics in the trash anyway as long as it fits in a trash bag. There are some risks beyond the safety concerns of disposing of a computer that way and we’ll discuss those today.
What’s the Worst that Could Happen?
Over the past couple of years as my child has grown, I have had the need to dispose of trash directly at the landfill many times as the items no longer needed were too large for disposal via the regular weekly trash. In my experience with this, I have seen what happens to trash once it is dumped and I can confirm that the trash does not just disappear. There are sorting processes in some cases and at bare minimum there are workers who maintain the area. In my experience, I have seen the workers put things to the side if they notice things they are valuable or still in good shape. This is where disposing of a computer incorrectly could be problematic. Whether this person plans to keep the device or sell it, you now have no control over what happens next with the computer or your data.
My Computer Had a Password on It, am I Still at Risk?
Yes. As we’ll discuss shortly, you can easily remove a hard drive and attach it to another computer to access the data with no issue or prompt for a password. The computer password only blocks you from accessing it via the physical computer it is currently inside of.
How Do I Correctly Dispose of a Computer?
The correct way to dispose of a computer is to first remove any hard drives whether they have been wiped clean or not. This is because data can still be recovered from hard drives that have been formatted, it’s not likely that it would happen, but in the hands of the right person it’s possible.
Once you have removed the hard drive, if you wish to retain it and use the data or the hard drive with another computer then you can buy an “external hard drive case” and plug the hard drive into your other computers when you want to access data from it. If you do not wish to retain the hard drive, you should destroy it via shredding or other methods. While shredding is the most effective method, it may be difficult to get access to equipment necessary for that so smashing it is the next best method.
Grab a baseball bat, hammer, or something similar and relieve some stress :). You can dispose of the hard drive once you feel confident that it is unusable or unsalvageable.
Once the hard drive is destroyed, you can be sure that your data is no longer at risk and you may dispose of the computer. There are multiple ways of doing this and some are more cost efficient than others. If you Google e-waste near me, you should see some places who will recycle old electronics for you. Additionally, they even offer services for destroying your hard drive for you in some cases. This may come at a low cost of 5 - 20 dollars but this is not the only option available.
Years ago, I used to volunteer at a computer shop where we would refurbish old, donated electronics and give them new life by adding new hard drives and new parts that bring the computers up to a more modern speed. We would then sell the computers for super cheap (like less than $50 in most cases) or donate them to older citizens or college students in need of a computer. If you can, I recommend donating the computer so that it’s parts can be reused by someone who may be in need.
Let’s Be Responsible
The most responsible way to dispose of a computer is to first protect yourself and your data, and then when possible recycle or donate the computer so it’s parts can be reused by someone in need.