What is ITAD? Best Practices and its Importance

If you’ve ever seen a hyperscale data center containing thousands of servers and storage devices, do you wonder where all that hardware goes when it is replaced? Most enterprises replace their computing and storage hardware every three to five years. That’s a lot of equipment that has to go… somewhere … and this is where information technology asset disposal comes in.

This article explains this further, by explaining what ITAD is, why it’s important, and how to manage it successfully.

What is ITAD?

ITAD, or IT asset disposition, is the process of disposing of IT equipment in a secure and sustainable way. ITAD includes many different types of IT hardware, including laptops, smartphones, printers, and other end user computing devices, as well as the process of disposing of software licenses.

ITAD may include recycling, which is the re-purposing of used IT electronics in whole or in part, along with the recycling of metals and plastics that make up these hardware units. The ITAD definition, therefore, is the complete task of making sure no longer needed IT hardware is disposed of safely and securely.

To define ITAD, it’s useful to understand the broader context. Businesses annually purchase millions of dollars of computer, storage, and networking hardware devices. Given the replacement cycle, somewhere between a third to a fifth of it will be taken out of service annually. Where does it go?

Until a few years ago, a lot of old electronic equipment just got thrown out and went into landfills. The world produced an astonishing 47 million tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste) this year alone. Overall, ITAD is the various practices and processes that involve IT disposition—the disposing of IT electronics in a way that’s environmentally friendly, economically sound, and secure.

Why Does ITAD Matter?

Why would a business concern itself with IT asset removal? The responsible and methodical disposal of IT assets is important for several reasons.

While it may seem like throwing old IT hardware into a landfill is the easier approach, this practice causes several problems for enterprises, and it’s environmentally unsound. It’s missing an opportunity earn money, and it can create cybersecurity risks.

Recycling and Sustainability

Computers and other electronic equipment contain toxic materials which can pollute landfills and water supplies. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), e-waste contains lead and mercury, which are neurotoxins harmful to children. The Lancet publication warns that e-waste may contain heavy metals like cadmium, manganese, chromium, and nickel, along with polychlorinated bisphenols (PCBs), flame retardants, polybrominated biphenyls, and phthalate esters—all of which are harmful to people.

To avoid causing this kind of pollution, enterprises engage in sustainable ITAD. In this process, specialized vendors deconstruct IT hardware, remove the harmful materials, and recycle or dispose of them in ways that limit their negative impact on the environment. IT asset disposition also avoids the emissions impact of trucking tons of e-waste to landfills.

Some enterprises carry out sustainable IT asset recycling because they want to reduce their infrastructure’s environmental impact. Alternatively, they may want to be seen as sustainable as part of the corporate responsibility programs or for reasons of brand and public image.

Costs

Recycling IT hardware is environmentally wise, but it can also make good business sense. Some of the metals in e-waste have value, e.g., Nickel, which costs over $7 per pound.

Additionally, many IT hardware components can be reused. For example, ITAD providers can extract DRAM chips for use in other equipment, which can cut costs when investing in new equipment. Disk storage and processors also have potential market value.

Data Security

Cybersecurity is a major factor driving interest in ITAD. Computer and storage hardware contain data, some of it sensitive, and this data would be appealing for a malicious actor to discover and use for personal gain – This practice is called “dumpster diving,” and it’s quite popular with hackers.

A discarded laptop, for example, could contain network login credentials, private information, customer records, personal or social data that useful for phishing attacks, and more. A hard disk drive from a storage arrange might hold thousands of pieces of confidential information. A network switch could show a hacker the network topography, and so forth. This issue is particularly relevant in data center IT asset disposition​, where you could be dealing with thousands of pieces of hardware loaded with corporate data.

IT asset disposition is essential if you want to avoid the potential for data theft from out-of-use devices. To make this happen, ITAD vendors may literally shred hard disks or solid-state memory chips. Alternatively, they may use data deletion processes and certify that all data has been removed from the device prior to physical disposition or resale.

Compliance and Laws

ITAD can be a “must have,” not a “nice to have” activity. In many US states, for instance, the law mandates that electronic devices are not to be disposed of in landfills.

The California Electronic Waste Recycling Program, for one, is a state law that bans the disposal of electronic devices, including computers, laptops, televisions, monitors, and printers in landfills. A fee paid at the point of sale covers the costs of the program, which includes payments to recycling firms and other suppliers who arrange for environmentally safe disposition of IT hardware.

5 Benefits of Implementing ITAD

Done right, ITAD delivers a host of benefits to enterprises that employ the practice. These range from financial payoffs to sustainability, compliance, and information security.

1. Save Money

ITAD has the potential to cut costs related to hardware, storage and maintenance. The practice could contribute to savings in the cost of replacing equipment, too.

The key to understanding ITAD savings is to know that every action taken by a person in an IT department costs money. If someone must spend an hour inventorying hardware that’s up for disposal and then tracking where it all goes, that costs money in terms of salary, benefits, facilities, and so forth.

Assigning the task to an IT vendor is almost always a more cost-effective proposition.

2. Earn Revenue

Whether hardware is recycled for chemicals and parts or sold second-hand, ITAD can generate revenue for a business. It may not be a massive windfall but earning money in an area where you’re expecting to spend it is always a positive.

3.Mitigate Data Security Risks

The risk of data security exposure is a real problem for companies who do not securely dispose of hardware. ITAD enables your enterprise to defend its data, which is part of maintaining a strong security posture and avoiding risk and liability.

4. Help Achieve Sustainability Goals

If your company is pursuing a sustainability strategy, the reduction of e-waste through IT asset disposition should be a significant element of the plan. There are image- and compliance-related benefits to doing ITAD for the purpose of sustainability. And it’s relatively easy to achieve, compared to other sustainability goals like reducing carbon emissions.

5. Encourage the Circular Economy

ITAD can contribute to the creation of the “circular economy,” which encourages people and businesses to use products and materials for as long as possible. The circular economy is about reusing and refurbishing products to extend their lives and reduce additional and unnecessary production of new products.

Reusing old hardware makes a real contribution to sustainability. This ethos is important to younger employees, so a commitment to circular economy practices can help with recruiting and retaining talent.

5 ITAD Best Practices

ITAD best practices are emerging as the process becomes more entrenched in the corporate world. Here are some highlights.

1. Audit your Assets

The ITAD process needs to be thorough, and it may be a matter of compliance. You don’t want to get into trouble with regulatory authorities for inadvertently creating e-waste.

To be sure, you must audit your IT assets, a process that goes best with specialized tools and knowledge. You may need to assemble the outputs of multiple IT asset tracking systems to build a definitive list of your assets.

The video below explains how auditing IT assets helps to determine the best time to dispose of equipment.

2. Be Scrupulous with Record-Keeping

Doing ITAD right means being rigorous with record keeping about the status of your IT assets. This would include maintaining records of IT asset procurement, use, and retirement. You should have a system for tracking ITAD certificates, such as for data erasure.

3. Adhere to Industry Standards

ITAD is subject to a growing set of industry standards, such as the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Special Publication 800-88, “Guidelines for Media Sanitization,” or the International Electrotechnical Commission’s (IEC) data sanitization standards.

These standards provide the guidance you need to execute an ITAD strategy to maximize benefits and risk reduction.

4. Organizational and Departmental Inclusion

Success in IT asset disposition means getting people from different parts of an organization to work together. Departments that have a role to play, and need a voice in ITAD include procurement, IT, cybersecurity, compliance, legal and physical facilities maintenance.

Everyone should have an opportunity to contribute to the ITAD plan and then be clear on what’s expected of them for its execution. The reason for this has to do with policy enforcement. It’s one thing to say that all laptops must be recycled, for example, but it’s something else to be sure that all laptops, which may be distributed around the world, are recycled as part of an ITAD plan. Making this work is a people-centric process.

5. Partner with a Reputable ITAD Provider

A successful ITAD program tends to be the result of working with a strong IT asset disposition provider and there are now many excellent providers in the ITAD industry.

Providers in the IT asset disposition market perform most of the practical tasks required for ITAD but may also help with some of the important organizational and practical aspects of the ITAD process, including the demanding and complicated work of data center ITAD.

How to Choose an ITAD Partner

How can you be sure you’re choosing the right ITAD partner? Basic due diligence is a given. You’ll want to work with a reputable firm with good references and one that has the proven capacity to handle your IT asset disposition needs.

More specifically, though, it helps to look for the following characteristics in an ITAD provider.

Credentials

A legitimate ITAD provider will have certifications for e-waste disposal. It’s smart to verify that the provider has the right certifications and follows industry standard practices for environmentalism and data security. This is necessary for the compliance aspects of ITAD.

Costs, Revenue and Value Recovery

The IT asset disposition provider should offer an upfront estimate of costs and potential revenue from IT asset recovery. This is a good business practice in general, but because of the detail-oriented nature of ITAD, with its many permutations of service, it’s essential to understand what services the vendor is offering and what it will cost.

As some enterprises have found, ITAD bills can contain surprises that cause unexpected expense and conflict with vendors.

Customization

Your ITAD needs may be different from those of other enterprises. For example, if you work in multiple states or countries, the most suitable ITAD provider will be one that can customize its offerings to meet your requirements regardless of location.

Proven Security Capabilities

ITAD mixes physical and digital processes. It pays to check carefully that a prospective ITAD provider has the full capabilities you need to provide data security as your requirements dictate.

A Demonstrable Commitment to Sustainability

IT asset disposition is heavily connected to sustainability and the ITAD partner should have a demonstrable commitment to sustainable practices. Verifying this may mean going beyond boilerplate proposal language and investigating how the supplier works and what people say about them in the industry.

IT Asset Recycling with Park Place Technologies

From understanding IT asset disposition’s meaning, and learning how ITAD partners can save you costs and grow revenue, you should have a clearer picture on the importance of ITAD not just for your IT team, but the business as a whole.

Park Place Technologies ITAD services encompass end user and enterprise hardware, storage, asset re-deployment, secure destruction, hardware resale and equipment recycling on a global basis. You select what offering best suits your ITAD strategy and we make the process as seamless as possible.

Contact us today, to realize the true potential of a reliable ITAD partner.