End-of-life electronics contain precious metals and elements, such as gold, silicon, platinum, and more. Your end-of-life computers and IT assets must be worth a fortune, right? Not exactly, but there are ways that IT departments can maximize the value of old IT equipment. The greatest value is when computers can be repurposed and upcycled, but some equipment is too damaged and must be dismantled and sold for scrap. 

Can You Make Money from End-Of-Life Electronics?

How IT Departments Can Maximize IT Asset Value

It may be tempting for an organization to keep employees on old technology. New electronic equipment is expensive, there’s downtime for installations and training, and any upgrade is disrupting. However, a survey recently found that $1.8 trillion (not a typo – TRILLION!) is lost each year due to technology that should have been retired. Old computers and other electronic devices are slower and often unable to be upgraded to the latest version. 

Storage of End-Of-Life Electronics to Gain the Highest Recovery Value (Make Money from End-Of-Life Electronics)

Once a computer or server “dies,” it’s easy to dismiss and throw it in a trash bin for collection. Taking care of how you store these items may greatly increase the value you receive. However, you can make money from end-of-life electronics. 

Here’s How to Make Money from End-of-Life Electronics

• Store it safely without damage in dry, cool environments
• Laptops should be placed on their sides if put in boxes. Be careful not to stack too many on top of each other on a pallet, which can damage the screens of bottom units. This is especially common in MacBooks.  
• Don’t write or add labels to items that are still in the original boxes & packaging 

Data & Parts Removal

• Hard drive data erasure can increase the value of retired equipment by 5-10%. Shredding or degaussing is costly and returns no additional revenue.
• Keep the covers or panels with the unit (laptop).  Serial-numbered plastic pieces may not be recycled properly. A complete unit will return a higher value than if this part is missing or damaged.  
• WiFi Cards, Optical Drives, and Memory (RAM) contain NO DATA. Mistakenly removing these parts can significantly limit an item’s resale value. Review the below examples to ensure only the hard drive is removed, or let Securis handle it for you.

Laptop Hard Drives and WiFi Cards

Hard Drives usually have a size capacity such as 256GB, 500GB, 1TB printed on the label.

IT asset value recovery isn’t top of mind for most organizations. That concern only comes after obtaining peace of mind regarding keeping sensitive data safe. 4,145 publicly disclosed breaches exposed over 22 billion records in 2021. 

Make Money from End-Of-Life Electronics

If you’re not sure what value your retired IT equipment holds, we’ll help you. Schedule an onsite visit with us with no obligation. We’ll come to you, evaluate your end-of-life equipment and let you know what we predict you’ll regain from your retired assets.