Recycling Electronic Devices SECURELY!

To promote sustainability and conservation of our resources, UH Information Technology Services is coordinating periodic recycling drives for electronic devices for the University of Hawaii System (http://manoa.hawaii.edu/chancellor/sustainability/recycling/index.html, http://hawaii.edu/ewaste/).  But before you recycle your electronic devices, please ensure they are securely erased so that the contents of the device are irretrievable. Any device that has a hard drive (such as desktop and laptop computers and certain printers or copiers) should have the hard drive securely erased before recycling the device.  If you are unsure if the device has a hard drive, please contact the vendor or manufacturer for more specific information.

For information on how you can securely erase a computer hard drive, please read the Ask Us article "Securely Deleting Electronic Information"  http://www.hawaii.edu/askus/706.

For leased copiers, please contact the vendor or authorized technician to notify them that you want the hard drive securely erased or that you want physical possession of the hard drive before it is returned to the vendor.  If possible, ask the vendor or technician for a certification that the information on the hard drive was securely erased.

Extra precautions should also be taken when recycling any cell phones or smart phones.  Cell phones and smart phones are now used to store large quantities of personal information such as phone numbers, addresses, other contact information, calendar events, pictures and other personally-identifiable information that should be kept private.  You should delete ALL information before disposing of or recycling any cell phone.  Each phone has specific information on how to erase all information from that model.  Check with your cell phone provider or the manufacturer's website for specific instructions on how to erase all the information from your phone.

 

 

 

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Article ID: 1159
Created: Mon, 17 May 2010 10:39am
Modified: Fri, 08 Feb 2019 9:53am