Side Street Technology Blog

When a used laptop is recycled, this means there is a reduction in environmental liability and accountability for all hazardous materials contained in discarded equipment.

The benefits of recycling include:

• You have the knowledge that your electronics discards will not become a future liability.
• RCRA compliant recovery and recycling with “end-of-life” certification.
• All materials that cannot be reused are sorted into various categories and marketed for recycling.
• All processes are tracked and compliant with environmental regulatory agencies.
• Each lot of material is assigned a control number when a movement is originated and tracked until final disposition.

A Special Note about Data Cleansing and Destruction

When a used laptop is recycled, recycling companies offer special services regarding harddrives and your sensitive data. These special services include:

• Guaranteed security of your proprietary products with complete data cleansing and removal on all media
• Total data destruction through shredding provided at your request
• Certificates of Recycle and total Data Destruction provided

Conclusion

When utilizing a vendor that specializes in used laptops, there is no waste. Units are first refurbished. If a unit can’t be refurbished, it is used or sold for parts. What’s remaining is recycled.

Another major factor that vendors who buy used laptops look at in determining the value of used laptops is their condition. There are several different types of scales to measure condition and the scales often categorize units into four general tiers including:

Tier 1. Complete Working Condition.

The used laptop is in working condition including all components and is cosmetically clean. The unit is fully operational. Sometimes these units will have factory warranty remaining, another key factor that can significantly increase the value of the laptop. These units bring the most value to vendors who purchase used laptops.

Tier 2. Partial Working Condition.

The used laptop is in general working condition, is cosmetically clean, but one or more minor components (keyboard, CD Drive) are not operational or the unit has excessive wear on the casing. The unit can be repaired at low-cost or the unit can be sold as operational even though not all components are functioning.

Tier 3. Parts.

The laptop is not operational or has essential components that are missing or not operational. Parts from these units can be combined to create fully functioning units or the laptop can be sold for parts. These units must be relatively cosmetically clean and must boot with either an existing harddrive or a harddrive placed in the unit. This category includes units that power on but the LCD is not operational. It also includes units that that have missing or non-operational Harddrives. Units should contain the majority of their components that were on the unit at purchase (ex: Motherboard, RAM).

Tier 4. Recycle.

Laptops that cannot be sold as parts either due to condition or to age are recycled. These include units where the Motherboard is not operational. Units that are recycled are not placed in landfills and are either broken down or shredded. Recycle certificates are available for your audit records.

Vendors who buy used laptops will generally categorize units into similar groups based on their condition and price the units accordingly.