Computer Disposal

Have you wondered as to what happened to the computers that were used about 10 years ago? The big white boxes with big monitors and ancient keyboards have been replaced with sleek laptops and flat screen monitors. Yes, those old computer equipments which were a must have for any individual about 5 years ago have become obsolete now. As a matter of fact the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has estimated that from the year 2005 onwards, 45 million computers will become obsolete annually.

Computer Donations

Before you think about disposing the computer stop and think if donating the computer is a feasible option. If it is in a working condition and you are only thinking of disposing it because you want a newer model, then it is always advisable to donate the computer. Contact a local school or an equivalent organization in your locality and you will be surprised as to how happy they will be to take the old model of the computer from you and you will feel good about it. After all you must have paid plenty of money for it and you will feel happy that indirectly who will be helping someone progress in life. This is an excellent option for large organizations that want to update their models and are left with hundreds of older models at their hands to dispose.

Computer Disposal

I am sure the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about computer disposals is land fills. This was the practice used till a few years ago in many countries but the environmentalists are making all efforts to stop this as it can have a very harmful effect. The main reason behind this the lead that is present in the cathode ray tube monitors.

Fortunately, taking this situation to their advantage many people have formed their own companies that deal with the disposal of computers. You just have to look up for the same on the internet and you will find plenty of leads near you instantly. You will have to pay them nominally for each computer that you want to dispose and they will take care of everything. The main tasks that these companies undertake are:

• They take the ownership of your computer that is the equipment becomes their responsibility.
• The hard drives are sanitized and destroyed. So you can be assured that any data that you may have forgotten to delete cannot be used anywhere else.
• The asset tags that may point to the original owner of the computer are destroyed.
• All the equipments that cannot be reused are disposed as per the Federal and State environmental laws.

Another environmental benefit on recycling computers and electronic items is that recycling helps recover valuable materials from the older equipments that can be used to make the new products. This results in the reduction of greenhouse emissions, reduction in pollution and saving the natural resources by extracting fewer materials from the Earth. Further, toxic materials like lead and mercury are removed before disposing the equipments in landfills which will ensure that these toxic materials do not seep into the water tables.

The manufacturers of the computer themselves have extensive recycling programs and you can approach them directly for the disposal of your computer.

I know that it is hard to imagine that disposing a computer can be such a big issue. What is difficult for me to imagine is that the laptop for which I paid an arm and a leg will end up in a bottom of a pit few years from now. And the worst bit is that I will probably have to pay to ensure that the laptop ends up in the bottom of the pit. But, in the end it is my responsibility to ensure that when the laptop does end up in the bottom of the bit, every re-useable component has been removed and all toxic materials have been removed so that the laptop does not harm the environment in any way. It is the individual responsibility of every computer user to ensure safe disposals of obsolete computer models else pretty soon we will not have a conducive environment in which we can use a computer.