Recycling Information

Recycling electronic equipment is critical for our environment yet experts currently estimate that less than 15% of electronic components purchased are properly recycled. The remaining 85% are unaccounted for and often end up in our landfill. The goal of High Country Computer Services, LLC is to recover as much raw material as possible and ensure hazardous chemicals and heavy metals are disposed of properly.

High Country Computer Services is concerned about the impact improperly discarded electronic equipment can have on our environment. To make electronic recycling more convenient for our customers we have joined with Colorado's leading recycler of discarded equipment, to ensure proper recycling of electronic equipment. A 53,000 square foot facility in Denver processes all types of discarded electronic equipment, dissembling and breaking them down into their constituent components and materials for reprocessing and recycling. The goal is to be "The leading and most environmentally responsible end-of-life recycler of electronic waste in the Rocky Mountain region" and to ensure that 100% of the e-waste it handles is actually recycled into raw materials for use in the manufacture of new products.

The disposal and recycling of computer systems not only requires proper environmental considerations, Legislation such as HIPAA and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act requires that certain organizations take effective measures to safeguard personal non-public information.

Unfortunately, many organizations are not aware that when they retire old systems that contain sensitive data, simply deleting the data or reformatting the hard drive does not permanently remove that data. Deleting data essentially tells the computer that the space on the drive is allowed to be written over. Reformatting a hard drive is akin to removing the table of contents of the book: the instructions to access the data are gone, but the data is not. In each case, critical information is still accessible.

First, High Country Computer Services can securely erase (optional service; additional fee) your hard drives using special software designed to securely erase data from drives. Using this special software, data is completely and permanently removed from computer drives. Use of this software ensures data previously stored on hard drives is inaccessible. Drives are not sold or installed into refurbished computers

The recycling process includes physically destroying the components. Drives are put through a device which is basically the equivalent of a paper shredder but on a much more powerful scale. The metal the comes out of the shredder is then shipped to a metal recycling plant where it is melted down to become raw material and reintroduced into the manufacturing process

Hard Disk Destruction Process

Hard Drives are physically destroyed and the metal fragments are then shipped to a smelting plant to be melted down