Advancement in technology means more and more computing power in smaller packages like laptops and tablets. People are on the move and are looking for their technology to go with them. Since so many companies and consumers are replacing their PCs with smaller devices, the need for computer recycling is growing fast.
At GreenCitizen, we are seeing companies replace hundreds of desktops and LCDs at any given time. Plus, many of our recycling drop-off customers are replacing their desktop computers at home with laptops and tablets too.
Computer Recycling & Data Destruction
Like recycling a laptop, the most important step in preparing for recycling a computer is data backup. Both Apple and Windows operating systems offer ways to help you backup your data safely. Once your data is backed up, you can then find a reputable recycler to help crush or data wipe your system for responsible reuse.
Even if your system is so old that the data is of no use to you, it still has confidential information such as your email address, phone number, social security info, or other sensitive information. The more secure way to destroy the hard drive for you or your company is to find a responsible recycler. While there might be a small cost to do this, the peace of mind you get from knowing your confidential data is destroyed is priceless.
If your desktop is too old to run current popular web applications, a responsible recycler will break it down. They will then send these parts to a certified de-manufacturer for raw materials. Making products out of recycled raw materials produces less CO2 and water. It also saves having to dig in the earth for more precious materials while reducing the use of petroleum to make plastic.
Beware of Irresponsible Recyclers
Is computer recycling safe? Yes, when done the right way. When a desktop computer is not properly recycled, it effects you, your company, and this beautiful earth we are trying to save. For example, using an irresponsible recycler to pick up your desktop for free increases the risk of them selling it to an exporter. This exporter might send your computer to a developing country under the false claim of reuse.
Due to lack of government environmental regulations and oversight, impoverished communities in developing countries try to salvage as much value from a desktop by any means. This includes looking up hard drives and breaking up a computer into useful parts. They then burn the remaining remnant or PC boards for traces of metals. Open burning of electronics contaminates local water sources and is harmful to the communities who live there. This isn’t what computer recycling is about. It’s immoral and a crime against nature and its inhabitants.
GreenCitizen to the Rescue
Since our start, we have helped divert over 20 million pounds of electronics from landfills and global dumping. We have also returned over 230,000 electronics back to the U.S for responsible recycling.
For those interested in computer recycling in San Francisco, we have a convenient drop-off center near the San Francisco Airport in Burlingame. At the GreenCitizen Eco-center, you not only can drop off items for electronic recycling, but also have your computer hard drives destroyed or wiped clean. We also have electronic waste pickup options for businesses in the San Francisco area.
Our Eco-Center is open Monday to Saturday from 10 to 6. No appointment is necessary. We have a passionate environmental staff that helps you unload your recycling items and helps you through the process.
There is a right way to recycle your old desktop. For more information about computer recycling, give us a call at (650) 493-8700 or message us on our website’s chat!
Every Day Should Be Earth Day: How to Solve the E-Waste Crisis?
Last Updated: July 17, 2019 by James Kao Leave a Comment
by James Kao, Founder, and CEO of GreenCitizen.
Every year on April 22, we celebrate Earth Day. This day is recognized as the launch of the U.S. environmental movement in 1970, a groundswell of public concern which quickly led to the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency and the passage of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts. April 22 still appears on our calendars as Earth Day, but what does it look like almost 50 years later?
A Daily Problem Needs a Daily Solution
Many organizations celebrate Mother Earth on April 22. Everywhere you look, you’ll see events promoting pro-environmental messages. All day long, or maybe for just a few hours, there’s talk of sustainability awareness. There are dire projections and passionate gestures around conserving natural resources and curbing pollution. Organizations gather to collect trash from beaches and waterways, and electronics recyclers waive their drop-off fees for the day. These are all great gestures for bringing some awareness to the issue. But the only problem is that by April 23, the day after Earth Day, people are already forgetting about their commitment to making the planet clean and green, focusing instead on business as usual, and counting down the days to May Day or Mother’s Day or whatever their next celebration will be.
Is this annual one-day event going to help solve the problems of global electronics recycling and the e-waste crisis? I can answer that in one word: “NO!”
While a one-day focus on sustainability offers some families and businesses the chance to get rid of the unwanted electronics they’ve been accumulating all year, it does nothing to provide the ongoing motivation or convenience that’s necessary to really address the world’s growing e-waste crisis. Computers and other electronics are a given in our daily lives, both in business and at home. New and improved devices are flooding the market, and the ones we’ve been using malfunction or break far too easily after just a few years. Why repair them when it’s cheaper to replace them with something just as good or better? Yet those old and broken electronics keep piling up. We need places where we can recycle them every day, not just on April 22.
Electronics Recycling Made Easy
GreenCitizen was founded with that need in mind. We’ve been in business since 2005. Over the past 14 years, our company has helped over 275,000 individuals and over 25,000 businesses to divert over 28 million pounds of e-waste by offering year-round recycling and education at its EcoCenter in Burlingame, California.
GreenCitizen’s EcoCenter offers consumers an unprecedented level of convenience by allowing them to recycle almost all electronics that plug into the wall or run on batteries. It is open 10 AM to 6 PM from Monday through Saturday. No appointment is necessary. GreenCitizen provides equal convenience for San Francisco Bay Area businesses to recycle their electronics. Business customers can simply submit a request on the greencitizen.com website, providing a list of their items and their windows of availability on weekdays. They can schedule a pickup from anywhere within 40 miles of the EcoCenter. And on the chosen day, GreenCitizen’s environmentally passionate staff will arrive on location to collect the business’ e-waste.
Think of us as a concierge service, taking just a few minutes of your time to handle a critical task that you probably wouldn’t do otherwise. Compare this level of convenience to the annual chore of hauling your own e-waste to a temporary location within a small window of time on Earth Day. GreenCitizen believes businesses all over the world need this kind of door-to-door service, just as consumers all over the world need an EcoCenter in their town.
Convenient recycling needs to be a year-round service. It must become an option for consumers and businesses to recycle whenever they have an unwanted electronic device that needs to go away. As a society, we need to change Earth Day recycling drives from a special event to an everyday reflex.
Energy Saving Tips for Your Computer
Last Updated: July 17, 2019 by James Kao 1 Comment
Ever wonder how to save energy when using your computer? If you see that low battery notification all too quickly, then it’s time to learn more about your computer power consumption. Luckily, there are plenty of things you can do to improve the life of your device. Check out our handy list of energy saving tips that not only save your wallet, but also the environment!
How to Make Your PC Use Less Power
Set your computer to hibernate
When your computer is not in use, set it to hibernate mode. This saves more energy than stand by mode, screensavers, or shutting down your computer completely. Standby mode shuts down peripherals such as the monitor and hard drive, but still uses a small amount of energy. This is the best option if you only plan to step away from your computer for a few minutes. However, setting your computer to hibernate when not in use shuts down the entire computer and stores the information on your hard drive. Computer consultants agree this is a better option because your work will still be saved. Furthermore, when you turn on your computer again, it requires less energy to start up from hibernation than when it is completely shut down.
(HINT: Every modern operating system has its own settings for conserving power. When in doubt, take your computer to a PC consultant or take advantage of online PC repair services to determine the optimal energy use for your computer.)
Unplug computer peripherals when not in use
Even when electronics are turned off, a continuous current of energy often referred to as “vampire energy” or “phantom energy” continues to stream into electronics. Printers for example, use about 103 watts of energy each day, even when turned off! Unplugging your electronics when not in use will stop the energy flow and save power. Try using a power strip with an on and off switch to reduce the flow of energy and protect your electronics. Save electricity by switching the power strip off when not in use.
Use an online PC repair service
Is your computer slow or not functioning properly? Don’t get rid of it. Instead, take your computer to a computer consultant or find an online PC repair service and have them run a virus or spyware removal program, upgrade your memory, install a new operating system or replace broken hardware. Generally, any functional computer with a Pentium 4 processor that can run Windows XP can be upgraded. This reduces electronic waste and is cheaper than buying a whole new system. Taking advantage of virus and spyware removal services that can improve your computer’s energy consumption and functioning. It’ll run like new!
By making a few changes, you can greatly reduce your computer power consumption. Instead of buying brand new, follow our energy saving tips to refresh your computer while limiting electricity use and needless waste.
We are dedicated to working with you towards making a greener future. For more questions about computer energy saving tips or electronic recycling, call us (650) 493-8700 today!
Data and Hard Drive Destruction Services: How to Destroy a Hard Drive
Last Updated: July 17, 2019 by James Kao Leave a Comment
According to research published in the International Journal of Environmental Technology and Management, “computer recycling capacity will need to be able to cope with more than a billion PCs by 2020” and as “access to technology increases in the developing world, the problem of recycling and disposal of desktop and notebook computers rises, too.” In addition, their research suggests that there will be “126 million desktop computers and 900 million notebook computers that will be past their life expectancy by the year 2025.”
That’s a whole lot of computers filled with personal data. That’s why a top Google search is ’how to destroy my old hard drive.’ You’ll probably find photos and YouTube videos of people chopping at their old computers with an ax. We promise this is the not the best way. While the images depicted may be funny, they don’t address the consequences of improper IT asset disposition or sustainability. They don’t say what happens if a drive you forgot to wipe is recovered and you’re reported to the EPA.
THE BIG TIP for Hard Drive Destruction and Disposal? … Leave It to the Experts
Technology waste is a complex issue and presents a host of special problems. That is why the best solution is to engage an expert, someone who is experienced in electronic recycling and IT asset disposition. Your old hard drives, whether they’re in your laptops, desktops, smartphones, or tablets, if recycled the the right way, will protect the environment, your business, and keep you compliant with government laws.
SAN FRANCISCO.. BREATHE EASY.. WE HAVE YOU COVERED
GreenCitizen provides a hard drive destruction service at our Burlingame, California EcoCenter. Simply bring in or mail your old hard drives to us. Businesses can request a pickup or have hard drive destruction performed on-site.
How GreenCitizen destroys your hard drives the right way:
You’ll get a Certification of Destruction listing each hard drive with its serial and model number.
We also offer Hard Drive Disk Wipe and Data Clearing
If you choose to get your hard drives, cell phones, and PDAs wiped clear, we first track each item down to its serial and model number, then remove the hard drive. The hard drive will be erased using the Department of Defense 5220.22-M Data Sanitization process. At the end, you’ll get a certificate that lists the specs of each item/hard drive and the peace of mind that comes with knowing your data is safe.
The GreenCitizen Mission- Make Every Day Earth Day
GreenCitizen is a leader in business and consumer electronic recycling in the San Francisco Bay Area. For over 15 years, we have provided convenient recycling pickup, drop-off, and accountability tracking to SF consumers and businesses.
We rely on system-wide innovation, and consumer education with the result of minimizing negative impact to our environment. With your help we hope to spread our sustainable model to cities everywhere. Recycling your computers and electronics is a huge challenge, but imperative for saving our planet. Our dedication is to partner with YOU to adopt environmentally sound practices and drive impactful environmental change. How can GreenCitizen help you and your business?
For any questions about hard drive destruction, please call us at (650) 493-8700.
Laptop Recycling: How to Recycle Your Laptop?
Last Updated: July 17, 2019 by James Kao 1 Comment
You’ve had your clunky laptop for many years and now it’s time for an upgrade. Once you finally pick out the perfect one, you’ll find yourself with two laptops taking up space. What do you do with the old one? That’s where laptop recycling comes in!
Laptops are becoming more and more important in our everyday lives. From business to personal, we need them for a variety of tasks. Plus, every 3-5 years, a new generation of laptops emerges that is lighter, more powerful, and more user-friendly. It’s hard to pass up.
That’s why laptop recycling plays a big part in today’s world. According to the EPA, “recycling 1 million laptops saves the energy equivalent to the electricity used by more than 3,500 U.S. homes in a year.” Most consumers also don’t know that electronics contain recyclable components for newer products. Or that they contain toxic materials that will harm the environment if left to sit in a landfill!
But before we get into what to do with your old laptop, you need to know how to clear it of any sensitive information. Some of the things we do online involve confidential data such us our social security number, driver license, bank account, and birthdate. We also log in to many online services with our username and password. That means, you need to make sure all confidential data moves to your new laptop before recycling.
How to Wipe a Laptop Before Recycling
Migrate all your data to your new laptop using cloud services and an external hard drive (like a USB flash drive).
Products like iTunes and Adobe limit the number of devices that can access them. You need to deauthorize your old device on these accounts before recycling. Otherwise, you might not be able to access them on your new laptop!
Wipe the old hard drive completely with software that conforms to the DOD standard. Both Apple and Windows have reset and restore instructions to help.
After you’ve wiped your laptop clean, you’re ready to recycle!
Where to Recycle Laptop Computers
Take your laptops to a responsible recycling company that focuses on reuse or proper dismantling. You can check out TIA’s E-cycling Central website to find an electronic recycling center near you.
For those in the San Francisco Bay area, you’re in luck. GreenCitizen offers free laptop recycling and will make sure your old laptop computers are safely recycled or reused. We offer convenient drop off and business pickup options so you can stay green!
For more information about how to recycle your laptop in San Francisco, feel free to call us at (650) 493-8700 or message us on our online chat today!
How Computer Recycling Works: What to do with Your Old Desktop
Last Updated: July 17, 2019 by James Kao 1 Comment
Advancement in technology means more and more computing power in smaller packages like laptops and tablets. People are on the move and are looking for their technology to go with them. Since so many companies and consumers are replacing their PCs with smaller devices, the need for computer recycling is growing fast.
At GreenCitizen, we are seeing companies replace hundreds of desktops and LCDs at any given time. Plus, many of our recycling drop-off customers are replacing their desktop computers at home with laptops and tablets too.
Computer Recycling & Data Destruction
Like recycling a laptop, the most important step in preparing for recycling a computer is data backup. Both Apple and Windows operating systems offer ways to help you backup your data safely. Once your data is backed up, you can then find a reputable recycler to help crush or data wipe your system for responsible reuse.
Even if your system is so old that the data is of no use to you, it still has confidential information such as your email address, phone number, social security info, or other sensitive information. The more secure way to destroy the hard drive for you or your company is to find a responsible recycler. While there might be a small cost to do this, the peace of mind you get from knowing your confidential data is destroyed is priceless.
If your desktop is too old to run current popular web applications, a responsible recycler will break it down. They will then send these parts to a certified de-manufacturer for raw materials. Making products out of recycled raw materials produces less CO2 and water. It also saves having to dig in the earth for more precious materials while reducing the use of petroleum to make plastic.
Beware of Irresponsible Recyclers
Is computer recycling safe? Yes, when done the right way. When a desktop computer is not properly recycled, it effects you, your company, and this beautiful earth we are trying to save. For example, using an irresponsible recycler to pick up your desktop for free increases the risk of them selling it to an exporter. This exporter might send your computer to a developing country under the false claim of reuse.
Due to lack of government environmental regulations and oversight, impoverished communities in developing countries try to salvage as much value from a desktop by any means. This includes looking up hard drives and breaking up a computer into useful parts. They then burn the remaining remnant or PC boards for traces of metals. Open burning of electronics contaminates local water sources and is harmful to the communities who live there. This isn’t what computer recycling is about. It’s immoral and a crime against nature and its inhabitants.
GreenCitizen to the Rescue
Since our start, we have helped divert over 20 million pounds of electronics from landfills and global dumping. We have also returned over 230,000 electronics back to the U.S for responsible recycling.
For those interested in computer recycling in San Francisco, we have a convenient drop-off center near the San Francisco Airport in Burlingame. At the GreenCitizen Eco-center, you not only can drop off items for electronic recycling, but also have your computer hard drives destroyed or wiped clean. We also have electronic waste pickup options for businesses in the San Francisco area.
Our Eco-Center is open Monday to Saturday from 10 to 6. No appointment is necessary. We have a passionate environmental staff that helps you unload your recycling items and helps you through the process.
There is a right way to recycle your old desktop. For more information about computer recycling, give us a call at (650) 493-8700 or message us on our website’s chat!
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