The sad reality is that office equipment breaks, and you must replace it. Sometimes technology improves so rapidly that the device might not even be broken but is already too outdated to be effective. The problem is that you cannot throw most office equipment into typical waste management bins. Many recycling and trash facilities do not have what is necessary to deal with certain office materials. Additionally, you may not want to give your office equipment to them because they may not ensure data destruction. All of these details may seem overwhelming, but there are fantastic ways for you to dispose of your office equipment with minimal work.
Because there are many different kinds of office equipment, electronics recycling organizations establish clear guidelines on what they will pay for and what they will not purchase. Some items may require you to pay the electronics recycler because they have a negative value.
Items That Can Earn You Money
Circuit Boards
Circuit boards might not look like much, but recycling companies will likely be happy to take them, and they will often even pay you for them. This is because circuit boards contain copper, silver, and gold, among other materials. While there may not be much of these high-demand metals in a single circuit board, if you’re upgrading the entire office, or even just a large portion of it, those precious metals can quickly add up.
Processors
Processors also contain quite a bit of gold and copper, so they will also be valuable to recyclers. However, they vary widely by how valuable they are. Ceramic CPUs, which are from older computers—usually those from the 80s and 90s—are the most valuable. They’re not reused often, but out of the three kinds of CPUs, they have the highest gold content. There are also plastic CPUs that contain gold and those that contain silver. Those with gold are worth more than those with copper, but you can likely get money for both of them.
Computers
Of course, not everyone has the desire or the knowledge to take computers apart and sort the innards by type and value. Fortunately, there are plenty of places that will take your computer as a whole. They’ll pay you for it, then take it apart themselves to reuse or sell the parts. Just make sure that you erase all your data from the computer when you’re recycling electronics.
Items That Can’t Earn You Money
One type of item that will likely cost you money to get rid of screens, like TVs or monitors. Electronics recyclers consider these office supplies to have very little valuable material. They do not offer them much profit, so they will charge you if you want to dispose of them. There are also a few things most electronics recyclers will not accept at all, like broken batteries.
What Is Electronics Recycling and How Can It Help You?
Electronics recycling is the most effective and beneficial way to get rid of old, outdated office equipment. There are a lot of specific organizations that are certified in R2/RIOS electronics recycling. They specialize in many types of office electronics and have experience destroying any private information in the devices. Most importantly, electronics recycling facilities often pay for devices, which can lead to a nice profit. Additionally, it is crucial to support sustainable electronics recycling to prevent waste from building up and stop toxic materials from hurting the planet.
If you didn’t know about electronics recyclers before, now you have a great way to save money and replace old office equipment without stress. The four kinds of office equipment mentioned are fairly popular items everyone needs to upgrade eventually. Electronics recycling is often a profitable way to deal with outdated equipment.