Got eWaste? Destroy, Donate, or Dispose

I found that our office had accumulated a truckload of computer equipment over the years. I didn’t throw out old routers or CRT monitors because I thought I might need them someday. Some of the gear had some value and could be donated to a worthy cause, but the rest of it was too old to be given away. State law prohibits me from throwing it all in the garbage and mandates that I recycle it. We got ewaste and now I had to figure out what to do with it.

Since all of the computers were too old to donate, I destroyed the hard disks by opening the drives and bending the platters that held sensitive data. I would have used Cybercide or KillDisk to destroy the data on the hard drives if I were going to donate the computers.

I took our old gear to the Computer Recycler in Cromwell. It’s a free recycling service for home users, businesses, or educational institutes. They take all kinds of electronics and computer equipment and are open Thursdays and Saturdays every week for a few hours. The guys were friendly and were happy to take our old computer equipment.

If the drive to Cromwell is too far, check if to see your town has a transfer station that will take residential electronics for no charge and what items they’ll take.

I donated the equipment we didn’t have any use for to a local charity called the Global Harmony Institute. If you have computers you would like to donate, check to see if it meets their criteria. While they charge $10 an item, at least you’ll know your donation would be re-used at a school or other nonprofit organization.

While there are a number of organizations who will also recycle your electronics, the most useful link I found is the one for returning HP printer cartridges and their consumables. You can print a UPS label so you can return the HP printer cartridge to a recycling center.


Christian Disbrow
Director of Information Technology