Your old computer has finally bit the dust or you need to upgrade your computer. But how do you properly dispose of your old computer? Computers are now considered toxic waste, leaking many metals such as lead, gold and silver into the ground, which then get into our drinking water. Some state will fine you for dumping your electronics in the landfill. Almost 80 percent of electronic wastes collected in America get sent to China or Africa. You need to be responsible and check to see if recyclers sell their e-wastes to a third party.
There are many ways that you can dispose of your computer. Before we get to that, let’s talk about what is on your computer first. A lot of people will dispose of their computer and never think about erasing their hard drives, leaving all your information available to identity thieves. Deleting files from your computer does not erase the files from your hard drive. Formatting the drive will get rid of most of your information, but probably not all of the information. You can run a strong magnet over your hard drive that will scramble whatever information that is on there, making it impossible to retrieve. Of course you can physically remove the hard drive and completely smash it.
Now where do you recycle this computer? If the computer is not more than 5 or 6 years old, donate it to a charity. If it is older than that it is probably a good idea to just get rid of the thing. Sometimes the computer manufacturers will take back their equipment. Many towns and cities have recycling centers that deal with nothing but electronic waste, and will make sure that it is destroyed in an eco-friendly way. The bottom line is finding something to do with your old computer other than putting it in the dump. It is our duty as citizens.






