Last week we had one of our busiest weeks ever at Urban E Recycling. Why? I think it may be our new website, but of course, I would think that, because I created it.
Maybe we are so much busier because we are going into our fourth year. Maybe it’s because we sent out postcard announcing our new hard drive shredder. I’m not sure, but the business is picking up fast.
We pick-up one to three hundred computers.
Every call or pick-up/contact form that comes in we schedule on a wipe board with details. We pick-up a single computer up to 300.
Last week we picked from law firms, dental clinics, engineer firms, IT networking companies, insurance companies and several other industries. We treat all businesses the same, and residents are second priority. Second priority, meaning they are usually smaller pick-ups, so we try to work them between the business pick-ups. Individual’s computers are just as important, they are just harder to get to.
We picked up 30 computers from one company. The very first thing we do, when we receive computers, is open them and remove the hard drive for shredding. The warehouse security specialist opened one up, and the media drive is mangled. This was a pretty strange sight. He opened another computer and the same thing. He called the manager over to show him the mysterious mangled media drive. Looking at the notes, the mystery was soon untangled. (No pun intended.) The note said, ‘Don’t worry about the hard drive, they have been destroyed.’
In reality, they have not been destroyed, but the media drives had been removed.
Immediately we called the business, where the computers had come. We asked them if they wanted the hard drives back. The answer was, “No; “Just shred them and send a ‘data of destruction certificate.’”
So that’s what happened. We took out the hard drives, scanned the labels, videotaped the shredding and sent them Certificates of Data Destruction.
What should you take from this non-fiction story?
- When you recycle computers, trust who you give them to. Urban E Recycling has plenty of references.
- If you don’t know what a hard drive is, don’t guess.
- If you call us, and you are not sure what a hard drive looks like, ask our workers. They will take apart your computer, in front of you, and show you. You can keep the hard drive if you want. All we are going to do is shred them.
And if you are confused about our process, visit us. We welcome visitors to tour our facility.
UPDATE:
We have designed and developed our own software and app in order to keep track of all jobs. We still use the erasable wipe board for back up.
