Does your business deal with a lot of electronic waste? For many small businesses, it’s easy to just throw e-waste in the dumpster and forget about it.

In 2018, there was about 49 tons of e-waste disposed of worldwide. That’s not good for the environment.

That can have an impact on your business. Find out how your business is impacted by e-waste and why you should have a recycling program

1. Throwing Electronics Away is a Security Risk

There were over 12 billion stolen records from American companies in 2018. You certainly don’t want them to come from your company.

Any type of data breach could be damaging to your company in lost revenue and consumer trust.

An e-waste recycling program will have protocols in place for erasing data or removing hard drives with sensitive data on them before disposal.

2. Employee Safety

Some electronics can be toxic for your employees to handle. There are some hazardous materials in electronics and you don’t want to leave your employees responsible for disposing of them.

3. Good Corporate Citizens

Your brand matters in the marketplace. What customers think about your brand can have in influence as to whether or not they become customers or not. Customers look for sustainable companies and will spend more to do business with them.

With an e-waste recycling program, people will see that you care about the environment and you’re doing something about it.

4. Comply with Laws

Did you know that there are laws that govern how electronic waste is disposed of? There are federal, state and local laws that you need to comply with.

Laws will vary by state, which makes it your responsibility to know the laws and make sure that you comply with them.

Set Up an E-Waste Recycling Program

Now that you know why it’s so important to set up an e-waste recycling program, how do you set one up? The first thing that you do is to find a commercial electronics recycling program to work with.

Once you have a vendor to work with, you’ll have to have a policy in place to deal with your e-waste. This is usually a written policy that explains what waste gets recycled, when, and what employees need to do. For example, they may need to be responsible for erasing all data from devices before disposal.

After that, you’ll need to spend a minimal amount of time training your employees. Introduce them to your vendor and explain any procedures that they need to be made aware of.

Businesses Need E-Waste Recycling

As a business, you’re likely to have to deal with electronic waste. Implementing an e-waste recycling program at your business makes sense for so many businesses.

You’ll position your business as a good steward of the environment, keep your employees safe as well as sensitive business data.

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