When you became an IT manager no one told you you had to be an expert in electronics recycling and remanufacturing. But here you are trying to choose among vendors for those services and you have no idea how to tell them apart. Should you just choose the cheapest?

The short answer is no. While cost should certainly be a consideration as you choose any vendor for your company, there’s more to electronics recycling than simply picking up your equipment and carting it away to who-knows-where. Improperly recycled electronics equipment—if discovered by the authorities—could result in your company running afoul of environmental regulations and harming its public image.

In addition to that, you can actually get more return for your money if your vendor handles your equipment properly. The more specific the testing regimes and remarketing requirements your vendors follow, the less equipment you’ll be sending to be recycled and the more you’ll be able to resell.

For this reason, we recommend that if you’re looking to get a higher return from your IT asset remarketing process, you look for vendors that have received a third-party certification for electronic recycling. Specifically, we recommend that you look for e-Stewards certification. E-Stewards is the best electronics certification that we know of. Here’s why:

• It has the most comprehensive audit process. Among electronics recycling certifications, e-Stewards requires electronics recyclers to perform the most due diligence on their recycling process and how they handle raw material. For customers, that means assurance their vendor will comply with all industry and environmental regulations.
• A strong focus on ensuring e–waste does not get into the regular waste stream. Unlike other certifications, e-Stewards requires those it certifies to follow good environmental practices not just in their state or country, but globally. For your company, that means you can be sure your vendor is doing the right thing for the environment and its workers.
• More specific requirements on data destruction. This shouldn’t replace NAID AAA certification, but it does give you a good safety net.
• More specific testing regimens and remarketing requirements. By testing equipment more thoroughly, e-Stewards certified vendors can provide their customers with a higher value for the reuse of their materials. An e-Stewards certified vendor must test every single item being sold. They must also check to make sure there are no identifying details in the configuration and operating system of every piece of equipment, another strong security measure.

If you’re finding that choosing an electronics recycling vendor is more difficult than you thought it would be, you might find our guide for IT asset managers helpful. Download it by clicking on the link below.