It’s that time that you are ready to throw that computer or laptop in the garbage.

However, there are many waste sites in the United States that does not support the disposal of computers in the garbage due to the amount of toxins and and components that are used to build your computer from the ground up. However, the Environmental Protection Agency has implementations to help provide recycling service throughout the nation. There are just too many hazardous metals and toxins that we want to keep out of the landfills.

In this article, we are going to provide information and alternate solutions to throwing your computer or laptop in the garbage.

Do you have an older computer that still works and has no physical damage? Places like Best Buy has a Trade-In offer that will give you a credit for trading it in for them. The Geek Squad also offers a service to dispose of the computers for you. You’ll want to visit www.bestbuy.com/services to check what the eligibility requirements are.

If you have a computer or laptop with a warranty on it, and you are coming to a time that it may be decommissioning or you are simply wanting something better, contact your warranty company to see what trade in options you may have to get yourself into a newer, better device.

You may run across retailers that will purchase your used devices with or without the warranty. Your best bet is to do a little research in your specific area to see what is offered.

Donate! With everything that is going on with the economy these days, there is someone out there that could use a computer. So many people are transitioning to work from home, and there are even students that may need one to remote from home for college, high school, or even younger. If you do a general search in your area, you can actually find specific donation organizations that will happily take your device.

There are times when there may be a request for hardware donation and recycling. Fossil fuels are used to create our computer, and the hardware can be reused in some instances. The computer’s lifespan being increased by reuse than brand new parts and components. it saves a lot on our environment. When we throw the computer or laptop in the garbage, that decreases the opportunity for someone else or other companies and organizations to obtain an opportunity to help someone.

There is also what is called End-of-Life Recycling. It is said that electronic devices can contain more than half of the periodic table to make, and facilities can recover the majority of those materials for reuse or just properly disposing of them to help the environment. If you have newer equipment that cannot be traded in, consider a refurbisher.

When it comes to recycling, remember, any software or hardware that you may have been using such as a printer or external drive can also be recycled as well as donated.

Again, the best means of information is going to be to search your specific city or county as well as the EPA website to see what kind of donation charities may be available as well as what specific computer recycling options are available for your specific area to help keep the negative components out of our environment and landfill.

Before making your decision to get rid of your computer, the most important thing to remember is to backup your data, and erase your data. The best thing you can do is restore your computer to factory settings. This will remove all programming that was installed on the device as well as any data and information that you have left behind.

These are things that you are able to do on your own, simply, or you can contact a data recovery expert to help back up the data and erase the device. You may pay a small fee when it comes to taking it to a professional.

In terms of wiping your hard drive, it is going to be specific to the kind of device that you own.

Don’t use the garbage. Recycle or donate! Show our environment some TLC. The less harmful pollutants the better to our environment.

Most important

Remember the ways that you are able to backup the information on your computer before you do anything with it. You want to ensure that no one has access to your data and potentially causes any data breeches that involves your data.

The most common backup options are:

• USB
• Cloud Storage/Backup
• Disk Image
• External Drive

You can absolutely have more than one copy of your data on any of the above media devices. It will make it easier for you to be able to transfer your device from one computer to the other. If something, by chance, happens to one of the backup options that you have selected, you will have an additional option to pull your data from.

Also, don’t fear! If you happen to erase or lose any data in the process of wiping the drive before you donate or recycle your computer or laptop, you can definitely refer to data recovery software

You can also take your computer to a data professional or repair professional to assist you with wiping the drive as well as recovering any data that you may have lost. You may have to pay a small fee, but you will have peace of mind that your data will be recovered. For any which situation that you may encounter that involves data loss, it is possible to retrieve it back in several different ways.