Think about your hard drive before recycling your electronics Know where your desktop or laptop computer is being recycled. Every couple of years researchers try and see just how much personal information they can find on hard drives sold through the open, second hand market. Hard drives are obtained on the open, second hand market, usually from a range of resellers, but always include some obtained through eBay. The researchers examine the hard drives for personal or confidential information and report that about one-third of the hard drives contain personal information. There have been at least 5 of these studies in the last 6 years; always turning up some personal information. Do other electronics besides computers contain hard drives? YES! Surprisingly not many people realize just how manyelectronics created these days have a hard drive in them. As shown on 60 minutes, some electronics such as printers, copiers and facsimile machines do in fact contain a hard drive. This may not see like a big deal, after all what could those electronics hold in terms of information. They keep a copy of the documents sent to them and store that information on the hard drive. These hard drives hold only a certain amount of information and do eventually overwrite bits and pieces of information but always contain the most recent information just processed through them. Simply recycling these electronics and keeping them out of landfills is not enough these days. There have been numerous privacy breaches over the years which have lead to state and federal governments becoming involved and creating several acts and rules to safe guard consumers as well as the businesses that house this sensitive information. The most recognized acts and rules are the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, Sarbanes Oxley Act, Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA), and Red Flag Rules. Information disposal is already one of the largest concerns to the consumers and businesses, and avoiding the consequences of improper disposal is of major importance when selecting vendors to process and destroy equipment containing such sensitive information. Ship-n-Destroy’s secure plant is operated by SecurShred, an information destruction company that has been certified for hard drive, paper and media destruction for plant-based and mobile operation by the National Association for Information Destruction (NAID). SecurShred has been in business since 2000 and is an A-rated member of the Better Business Bureau. For more information about NAID
Posted by admin @ 6:22 pm
When buying or selling electronic equipment such as desktop or laptop computers make sure to remove, replace and destroy the hard drive. Simply reformatting the hard drive is not enough. This process does not completely wipe your sensitive information from the hard disk, but only cleans some of the information off of it. The reason for this is called “Hard Drive Defect”. This is an area of the hard drive that the reformat simply cannot overwrite. There are other forms of hard drive destruction or erasure such as drilling, overwriting, or degaussing, however, any forensic investigator can still extract information that was on the disk. The only sure method of destruction is by crushing your hard drive using an HD Hammer, which destroys the hard drive platter. This method assures that your information is permanently irretrievable. Make sure that you are using a company that is NAID certified to destroy hard drives. NAID certification assures you that the company destroying your hard drive has gone through stringent policies and procedures to insure your hard drive is properly destroyed and recycled. Examples of strict NAID standards are using bonded employees, that the facility is secure and monitored 24/7, the materials destroyed and recycled are done so by using “cradle to grave” recyclers located in the U.S. that keep your sensitive information from being recycled in foreign countries.
Categories: Electronics Recycling
Tags: CD Destruction, clean hard drive, computers, destruction, environment, erase hard drive, FACTA, format hard drive, hard drives, HIPAA, How to Wipe a hard drive, How to wipe hard drive, landfills, NAID Certified, privacy, protection, recycle electronics, recycling, remove hard drive, SecurShred, toxic, waste, Wipe a hard drive
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SecurShred Diverts Hazardous Materials from Landfills In most states, laws prevent companies from depositing environmentally harmful computers and electronics into our landfills, however, electronic waste accounts for 70 percent of the overall toxic waste currently found in them. Obsolete computer equipment is the fastest growing component in our landfills and is growing 3x faster then other waste. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s estimates, electronic products constitute 1% of municipal waste, with more than 63 million computers retired in the U.S. annually. Most electronic waste sits in a store room or closet taking up valuable office space instead of being properly recycled back into its original material for reuse. The average desktop computer contains heavy metals and plastics that may include mercury, lead, cadmium, chromium and lithium – all potentially hazardous to our health. When placed in a landfill, even in small doses, these materials can contaminate soil as well as drinking water. Here’s a breakdown of what toxic materials are found in an average electronic device. Computers - Lead is present in CRT computer monitors. Also, there are other toxic elements that you should be aware of when you’re recycling that PC or Mac. Many laptops have a small fluorescent lamp in the screen that contains mercury, a toxic material when inhaled or digested. Mercury is also found in computer circuit boards, along with lead and cadmium. Circuit boards can also include batteries made of mercury, as well as mercury switches. SecurShred uses end-of-life recyclers that comply with all State and Federal regulations that will recycle your hardware back into its raw materials for reuse. Our recyclers are located in the US and use a “cradle to grave” tracking system. This assures that the electronic waste does not end up in the hands of other companies, landfills or illegally exported to other nations. We make it simple for you, which is in turn better for our environment.
Posted by admin @ 2:04 pm
SecurShred diverts thousands of pounds of toxic waste from landfills every month. We care about our environment and the impact that we have on it, therefore we will pick up your electronic waste or give you the option to ship it to us for proper destruction and recycling. By diverting these electronics materials from the landfill and recycling them back into raw materials we are working hard to clean up our environment. We securely destroy electronic storage media and responsibly recycle computers and other electronic hardware and components for commercial businesses and consumers on a regular basis. Recycling your electronic waste is the right solution for today and our future.
Cell Phones – While your trusty cell phone may not contain as much toxic material as larger electronic devices, its shelf life is only about 18 months for the average consumer. It’s estimated that there are more than 500 million used cell phones ready for disposal. Cell phone coatings are often made of lead, meaning that if these 500 million cell phones are disposed of in landfills, it will result in 312,000 pounds of lead released. However, possibly the most hazardous component of the cell phone is the battery. Cell phone batteries were originally composed of nickel and cadmium (Ni-Cd batteries). Cadmium is listed as a human carcinogen that causes lung and liver damage. Alternatives contain potentially explosive lithium or toxic lead. While toxic materials comprise only a small amount of this volume, it doesn’t take much lead or mercury to contaminate an area’s soil or water supply.
Categories: Electronics Recycling
Tags: CD Destruction, clean hard drive, computers, destruction, environment, erase hard drive, format hard drive, hard drives, How to Wipe a hard drive, How to wipe hard drive, landfills, NAID Certified, privacy, protection, recycling, remove hard drive, SecurShred, toxic, waste, Wipe a hard drive
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