The world generates about 50 million tons of e-waste annually, making electronic waste the world’s most rapidly growing waste problem. This is primarily due to the rate at which technology has evolved during the last decade and the inability to dispose of it fast enough correctly. Responsible e-waste disposition is critical in a digital world. Proper management of IT assets will help reduce the e-waste crisis and help the world transition to a circular economy.
Linear VS Circular & The Hazardous Waste Crisis
The world operates on a linear economic model, meaning goods and products are purchased, used, and thrown away. The problem is not all waste is biodegradable, which means landfills cannot help the e-waste crisis. Electronic waste is classified as hazardous waste because of the chemicals it produces. When e-waste is sent to landfills, these chemicals are absorbed by the soil, causing the contamination of groundwater that will eventually spread to the surrounding water supply and can subsequently lead to severe health issues for those who have ingested it. The goal of a circular economy is to eliminate waste reducing, reusing, and recycling goods and products rather than throwing them away, and one way to achieve this for e-waste is with proper IT asset management.
IT assets like phones, laptops, printers, and desktops are prevalent in the business world and a requirement for successful business operations in a digital era. However, the rapid growth of technology has created quick turnaround rates for IT assets, resulting in an abundance of hardware that needs disposal. Managing retired IT assets will help significantly reduce the e-waste crisis by ensuring office IT assets are disposed of responsibly. IT asset management is also crucial for materials recovery and value maximization.
IT Asset Management with an ITAD Partner
Quick turnaround rates result from the need for newer models, but sometimes companies upgrade IT equipment simply to have newer models and retire old assets before their useful life cycle ends. This means a significant amount of IT assets are retired when they are still in working condition, and many are disposed of before their time. Reusing electronics is a key component of a circular economy and helps prevent working devices from being disposed of too soon. IT asset management enables companies to maximize the value of retired IT assets that are still functioning properly by repairing and remarketing them.
ITAD Enterprises like HOBI provide a range of IT asset management and disposition services focusing on maximizing value with materials recovery and mitigating environmental liability. With an ITAD provider, every step is taken. Whether it’s data center decommissioning or relocation, repair, and remarketing, or recycling, ITAD providers are there to ease the burden of asset retirement. Partnering with an ITAD provider also means data is safe throughout the disposition process. HOBI offers onsite data erasure services using our internally developed erasure tool, HOBI Shield, to ensure no data leaks can occur.
HOBI is an R2v3, RIOS, WBE, and ISO 14001 certified IT asset management and disposition provider with more than 30 years of industry experience. Partnering with HOBI ensures environmentally responsible IT asset disposition and ITAM services that maximize asset value after retirement.
For more information about our ITAD services, call 817-814-2620 or contact HOBI at sales@hobi.com.