The E-Waste Dilemma

In homes and offices around the world, Technology has become nearly essentially, and one may find themselves replacing it more often than they expected. This leads to a significant amount of waste that can accumulate in your office; whether it's an extra smartphone, desktop, or something as simple as a random, non-functional hard drive. Disposing your dated, unnecessary technology isn’t as easy as placing paper into a recycling bin, however, and it shows in the amount of e-waste that infects the world every day.

Ever pondered what happens to your old devices after you throw them in the trash? Inevitably, any discarded devices of yours will find their way into a dump or transported to a third-world country where they will accumulate. Anything utilized to build these devices will have ultimately been wasted, as they become useless hunks of precious metals, glass, and other resources. Here are some statistics about e-waste that may lead you to reconsider throwing that old smartphone into your trash bin.

• 45 million tons of electronics were thrown away in 2016.
• Only 20% of e-waste is properly documented and recycled.
• $55 billion worth of raw materials are wasted on devices that are thrown away--with smartphones alone accounting for about $9 billion.
• 76% of all e-waste is ultimately unaccounted for with an unknown endgame.

It's natural for the amount of e-waste to increase as time goes on; more technology is created every year. However,, e-waste is a significant problem for your business. There is one major hazard that you need to consider regarding your organization's e-waste: data security.

Major Hazard: Data Security
Any piece of data on your organization's devices is at risk of being compromised; if you no longer own the devices, this risk significantly increases. For example: you discard your old smartphone when you buy a new one, and a hacker finds it after you throw it away. The hacker then proceeds to access any accounts linked to it, including access to your organization’s cloud-based network and data storage. They can even do this with something like an external hard drive.

In conclusion: double check to make sure that your devices are properly wiped or destroyed prior to disposing of them. This can be accomplished by either physically destroying the device itself, or by reaching out to Macro Systems. We can properly handle your old devices and follow the correct steps to ensure that any devices you no longer need won’t place your business at risk. Additionally, we can help you recycle your devices so that they have a reduced chance of filling a dump somewhere halfway across the globe.

To learn more about how to eradicate unnecessary devices in an unwasteful manner, reach out to us at 703-359-9211.