Today was a day that everyone dreads. You look at the mound of old technology and realize “no one wants it.” The first thought that crosses your mind is “why not!” It was really good when we bought it.
The WBS goes something like this: realization that recycling must occur, create an inventory list (so we can prove to the revenuers that we did dispose of the equipment), remove all the drives (if the unit is a computer), store them in a safe place for future review (probably won’t happen but there won’t be accidental disclosure if they are in the basement), source a disposal place, package the equipment, drive to the center and !!! get rid of it all.
After looking at the list, we realized that there was a lot of equipment that was past its best buy date. In its day, the Manhatten server was a leading edge server now an obsolete piece of technology. Too slow. Too obsolete. Too slow to be reused.
So, the only choice is an e-waste disposal site. Eastman Recycling is an unusal recycling center. They take all e-waste except thermostats or any device with PCBs.
After my stint in the back of a Ford F150 stacking equipment, we dropped the equipment at Eastman. I told one of the staff that the HP 5110 still worked. He smiled and said ‘it won’t when we are done with it.” I realized that the world would be a better place if we could find homes for old technology.
The nugget is ” when running technology projects or replacing technologies in our offices, it is critical that we consider how we can make better use of the recycled technology. We can be proactive.”
