What to do before you recycle electronics
Two things are worth doing before a device leaves your hands: checking whether someone else could still use it, and removing your personal information from it. How the second is done depends on the kind of storage inside.
Before donating or recycling electronics
Consider whether working electronics can be donated or reused before recycling. Remove personal information from computers and other electronics before donating or recycling them. EPA lists manufacturer and retailer take-back options and recommends checking for recycling opportunities in the community.1
Solid-state drives and flash storage
Solid-state drives (SSDs) and other flash storage have no spinning disk, so they do not carry the voice-coil magnets that hard disk drives do. A laptop, console or server that uses only solid-state storage therefore has no drive magnets to recover; its remaining magnets are in small speakers, fans and vibration motors, and whether those are rare-earth depends on the design. All-flash servers keep only their fan magnets. Whatever the technology, data-bearing storage still needs the sanitization or destruction its owner requires before reuse or recovery.2
Where to take it
When the device is ready, a collection program near you can take it.
Find a recycling programSources
- Electronics Donation and RecyclingUS EPA, Before Donating or Recycling Your Used Electronics; Where to Donate or Recycle
- Product profile: Enterprise serverUrbanMining, Enterprise server teardown notes (drive technologies); laptop teardown notes (solid-state drive); Mine the house: Game console answer
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