Tip of the Week: 3 Options to Consider Before Trashing Your Old Technology

It’s often the case that people excitedly upgrade to new technology without giving much thought about what to do with their old tech. In an upgrade situation like this, you’ve got a few options for dealing with your old technology that are good for the environment, socially responsible, and may even provide you with some cash.

Alternatively, you could just toss your old equipment in the garbage.

As convenient as it is to throw something away and not have to think about it, it’s not responsible. Electronic equipment is notorious for containing components made up of toxic chemicals that, if not disposed of properly, will leak into the environment and do some serious damage. Plus, it’s often the case that people will toss aside perfectly-good-and-working technology just because they’ve got a hankering for an upgrade.

Don’t be wasteful with your old technology. Consider these three options instead:

Resell Your Old Equipment for and Repurpose the Funds
Your most profitable scenario involves you selling your old equipment. Though, don’t get your hopes up that you’ll be able to find a buyer for every old piece of tech. As explained by Kyle Bittner of Exit Technologies, “If it’s junk from 1985, it would be a waste of time to pursue reselling the product. If it’s decent stuff from 2004, it’s probably still worth thousands of dollars that could return capital to the budget.”

The Internet provides consumers with several great platforms for users to sell their used equipment, with websites like eBay, Craigslist, Amazon Marketplace, and more. Before posting an ad to sell your old tech, be sure to spend time researching its value so that you’ll get the biggest return on your investment. If you’re not sure if your item is worth selling or not, then ask the IT pros at ZR Systems. We’ve got a good grasp on the market and we’re always happy to give helpful advice.

Donate Your Old Tech and Feel Good about Yourself
Instead of throwing away perfectly good tech, why not donate it to someone or some organization that can use it? If it’s got plenty more miles left on it and you don’t want to go through the hassle of finding a buyer, then it might be easier just to give it away. You might have an employee that would appreciate getting an old workstation for private use, or maybe there’s a nonprofit organization in your community in need of a gently-used server unit.

When donating old equipment, just be sure that you’ve completely wiped the data from the hard drive. Or, better yet, do the recipient of the gift a favor and just go ahead and replace the old hard drive so that they’ll not have to work with a drive that’s old and prone to crashing. Replacing the hard drive will completely eliminate the risk of the next user uncovering sensitive files. ZR Systems can help with both wiping the data completely from your old drive and swapping out the old hard drive for a new one.

Repurpose Your Old Tech and Save Money
Before you say goodbye to your old technology, take a look around your office and see if you can find a place where it can come in handy.

For example, it’s always a good idea to have a backup PC handy, just in case one of your working units were to unexpectedly crash. Plus, you can always repurpose an old workstation into a server with a dedicated task, like hosting your company’s email, handling the printer traffic, or hosting one specific application. Repurposing an old PC like this can free up resources on your network, but reconfiguring the old equipment can be an involved process, so you’ll want to have an IT professional lend a helping hand.

All of these options are far better than just throwing out your old equipment and having it muck up the environment. ZR Systems can help assist you with all of these green options. We can even help recycle your old tech in an environmentally-friendly way that you can feel good about. Call us today at (808) 369-1000 to learn more.