Oregon widened its covered-device list for 2026; Illinois and Vermont expanded battery EPR; California added battery-embedded products to its e-waste fee; and Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington enacted right-to-repair laws effective January 1, 2026.
The Right to Repair movement continues to grow as new states adopt repair legislation to extend repair capabilities to third parties. Texas recently joined Colorado, Washington, and Connecticut in efforts by passing a repair bill.
Last year, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) published Revision 2 of NIST SP 800-88 and withdrew Revision 1 the same day. Shifting focus from per-device sanitization choices to running an enterprise media sanitization program, the updates change how companies must wipe, destroy, and handle retired data-containing hardware.
Responsible ITAD requires the right certifications, and newer state privacy rules extend accountability to service providers. This means companies should increase vendor scrutiny to ensure regulatory compliance.
Artificial Intelligence is transforming data center upgrades and decommissioning, making understanding these changes crucial for industry professionals.
HOBI’s Director of Operations, Don Simms, recently took center stage on the HOBI Conversations podcast to discuss major industry changes, the data center ITAD process, what’s required for a zero-data-breach record, operational challenges, and more.
This blog post breaks down the rapid evolution of AI data center hardware, how to capture meaningful secondary market value, and how grading and timing can help move the numbers in your favor.
AI server refresh has compressed from a 5-7 year horizon to 18-36 months as GPU generations turn over, creating massive strain on power, cooling, and hardware decommissioning. This blog post breaks down how AI is rewriting data center hardware lifecycles, and how this is affecting disposition volume, planning, and budgets.
The right certifications are the difference between audit success and failure, and this blog post breaks down the specific certifications that should inform your choice of ITAD vendor.
This blog post breaks down the uniqueness of device reuse and how it supports the circular economy, and discusses how this route cuts more Scope 3 emissions versus recycling or destruction.