Every once in a while if you work for a company and you deal with a computer equipment you will…read moreeventually have to do a huge clean up and proper recycling of old hardware that you no longer need. It's a fact of life and here when you purchase any type of electronics whether it's a printer, screen, even a keyboard or mouse you are paying for a recycling free at the point of purchase. Yes, you're actually pre-paying for the disposal of your brand new equipment that you may not get rid of for years. It doesn't matter if you're a company or an individual, this recycling program is in place for a reason. You cannot simply put your old 1970's tube tv on the curb for garbage pick up. No, you must recycle your electronics the proper way and that depends all on your local government programs.
In many cases retail stores like Staples or Best Buy will gladly take your old electronics for the government approved recycling and disposal. If you're a company however and you have a lot to dispose of well moving things back and forth are not as simple especially if you happen to have a lot of equipment.
Enter Revolution Recycling. I was looking online for a place that would take what I had to dispose of and even pick it up but the caveat was that it would have to be at no charge. That may sound like a lot to ask for but it's not. What I found online was a company called Shift Recycling. Here is a list of Shift's acceptable items that they take:
Computers And Network Equipment
- Desktop Computers
-Laptops
-All In One Computers
-Monitors
- Servers, Routers, Switches And Modems
- Typewriters
-All Computer Peripherals Keyboards, Mice, Wires etc.
Printers
- All Printers Laser Or Inkjet
-Fax Machines
-Scanners
-Photocopiers Any Size
- Plotters
-Toner Cartridges
Telephones And Cell Phones
- Landline And Office Telephones
-Cell Phones And Blackberries
-Office Telephone Systems
- Answering Machines
Audio And Video Equipment
- Stereos, Radios, Amplifiers And Speakers
-Car Audio Equipment
-Cameras And Camcorders
-DVD Players, VHS Players And Satellite Receivers
Televisions
-All Televisions (CRT, Tube, Rear Projection, LCD, LED)
-All monitors (CRT, Tube, LCD, LED)
Batteries
-All Batteries
-Alkaline (AA, AAA, C, D)
-UPS Batteries and UPS units
-Car Batteries (Lead Acid)
-Laptop Batteries
Wires And Cables
- All Wires And Cables
-Keyboards And Mice
-Adaptors
I had used the web site contact link to send a correspondence of where I was, what I had to recycle. I was later contacted by Clayton at Revolution Recycling asking me about particulars such as the facility, and photos of what I had and where how the access was to where the equipment was. It was a pretty simple process. Clayton later said I would be contacted the following week as to coordinate a pickup and it would be at no charge. I was by his word contacted about a week later by Terri saying that Revolution would have a truck come by. I didn't have anything with hard drives so I didn't need to worry about data destruction etc.
While I was away the day they came to do the pickup, a colleague was able to allow access to our building to complete the pickup so Revolution was able to load up what was probably about 9 cubic feet worth of equipment which included a old tower phone system (I needed a dolly to move it), about 8 network printers, 4 personal printers, rack mount equipment, and lots of smaller things like keyboards, mice, cables, used toners, battery backups, etc. There was a lot of equipment to be removed and when I came to the office the next day it was all gone!
So what I needed fulfilled, Revolution did for me. I had asked if they could come and take away all this stuff and they did. They came, they saw, they took. It didn't cost us ANYTHING to use their service. Also the metals and other recyclable components may get salvaged or reused and those parts that aren't will get properly disposed of so on the environmental level we all did our part.
Revolution Recycling helped me and they can probably help you too. I'm guessing on volume, the more you have the more it's worth they're while to use their resources to pick up your unwanted equipment. If you don't have enough and you just want say one or two things removed there may be a service charge. In my case we had enough to justify a free pickup which works for me.