Just scored 2 out of 10 in the tidiest office contest? Perhaps your recent birthday present was the latest ultrabook, so no idea what to do with your old laptop now? Came across an article on the negative environmental impact of growing e-waste? Whichever the reason may be, there's a great opportunity now to donate your old or unwanted machine and even qualify for tax deduction.
Sounds like a plan? Here are some facts to inspire you to donate computers instead of just tossing them in the trash.
Reusing is the keyword here. The longer we keep a computer alive, the more this benefits both the environment and people. It cannot be overstressed how disastrous e-waste is: it can leak deadly chemicals into the soil and water supply. The amount of gadgets we throw out each year is astonishing and it just keeps growing. An estimated 50 million tons of E-waste are produced each year! It is OK that we keep upgrading our IT stuffs. But we should also find time to reflect on what happens to that massive pile of e-junk we keep producing! And let us not forget about the fact that it takes huge amount of energy to make a computer. Manufacturing the average 53-pound desktop computer and monitor requires hundreds of pounds of fossil fuels, chemicals, and water. Just crazy... So just keep that machine in the cycle! Refurbish it, recycle it, donate it, trade it in, present somebody with it-whatever but do not throw it out.
Oldies can be goodies. The fact that your PC does not work as fast as it used to does not mean it's all useless. Most people only do 4-5 things on their computers. Email, browsing, multimedia, office applications and maybe accounting. If you have a 3-4 years old machine, it can easily do all that. There are many organizations, charities, non-profits, schools, students and individuals that would be happy to have the stuff you are going to get rid of. It creates good vibes to know that your donation, say, gets exchanged for scholarship and helps a student. And at the same time you are doing your bit to help the environment.
If you donate computers now, it has an added bonus. By doing so you may qualify for tax deduction and get back the current market value of your machine. According to IRS Title 26,170 "Charitable contributions and gifts", you can apply for a tax deduction if you give away your laptop or computer to a charitable organisation. Consult your legal or tax adviser for more information.
So if you have decided to go ahead there is yet another very important thing to talk about: the fate of the deleted data stored on the computer you are planning to give away. Deleted emails, credit card numbers, work files, photos and many other type of information that, should it fall into the wrong hands, could be used to ruin your life. The problem is that simply deleting files does not provide total security as unauthorized people can easily recover that. Once hackers gained access to your data there is one thing you can be sure of: they are going to show no mercy. Some are going to have fun erasing your accounts or destroying your work files. Others may post racist comments on your Facebook page. And some are surely going to find the way to withdraw money from your bank account and use your credit card. Therefore you need a tool that wipes your hard drive clean and destroys all data irrecoverably. east-tec DisposeSecure has been developed with just that in mind. It has been used by government agencies, banks and many other prestigious organizations and individuals worldwide to protect their data when disposing old computers, to comply with data privacy laws.