Goodwill Computer Recycling Mobile Unit Can Certify Data Wipes

The song "Everything Old Is New Again" was popular back in the 1970s, but it's a tune they're humming these days at Palmetto Goodwill, especially with a new mobile component of the Dell Reconnect computer recycling program that brings the service right to your home or business.

"Essentially, Palmetto Goodwill has a partnership with Dell where we intake computers and either donate them for Dell to dispose of properly to keep them out of landfills or we refurbish them and sell them in our Computer Works store for a big discount," said Rebecca Ryan Collett, public relations and media director for Goodwill Industries of Lower South Carolina.

Dell Reconnect was started in 2004 in partnership with Goodwill Industries. Since then, donations of old computers at more than 2,000 participating Goodwill donation centers in the United States and Canada have kept more than 250 million pounds of e-waste out of landfills -- the equivalent of 43 million laptops. They also accept Microsoft(r) Xbox 360(r), Zune(r) systems and accessories.

Those systems that are in working condition are refurbished and resold through Goodwill, which Collett said helps create green jobs to further support Goodwill's mission of helping people with disabilities and disadvantages by providing education, training and career services. Donated computers are staged, tested and sorted into two categories: refurbished into saleable units and recycled through the Dell Reconnect program. The program allows Goodwill customers to purchase modern technology at an affordable cost.

And now, she said, one of its computer recycling programs can come to you.

"We have a traveling option where we go to local businesses and certify data destruction on computers with sensitive information," she said. The mobile unit began about a month ago and has already been deemed a success.

"We've been shocked by how much business we've gotten from it," she said. "And it's mostly through word of mouth and social media." Whether walk-ins or using the mobile service, many of the customers simply want to destroy the hard drive completely.

"The medical community is one example," Collett said. "With HIPAA laws, they can't recycle it. So we can go onsite and destroy it and give them a certificate showing that it's been destroyed properly."

Dell already employs an extensive and strict electronic disposition policy that ensures no environmentally sensitive materials will be sent to landfills and no items will be exported to developing countries. Goodwill also follows Department of Defense guidelines, which ensure that no one can retrieve information once it is deleted from the hard drive. And in cases of hard drive destruction, Collett said there are several avenues to take, from drilling a hole through the hard drive to using DOD software to plug the hard drive to doing an 18-layers wipe, which is a standard government procedure.

And after that?

"Then we can add software and make it a whole new computer and it can be a bargain for someone shopping in one of our stores," she said. "It's up to the client what we do. They can donate it and it can become someone else's or they can reuse it themselves."

Besides the donation program and the hard drive wiping service, Palmetto Goodwill also operates Computer Works, a complete electronics sales and service store, which not only refurbishes computers but also helps with repairing and maintaining desktop and laptop computers.

Computer Works offers a complete diagnostic of the computer and performs virus and spyware removal, system tune-ups, operating system installation and repair, and hardware trouble shooting and repair. Whichever service a client chooses, Colett pointed out that in the end, there is a benefit.

"It's still a huge value," she said. "And 90 cents of every dollar goes back into employment training."

How to donate:

• Save any information you want to keep. ALL personal information will be permanently deleted from your computer by Goodwill.
• Keep the operating system intact.
• Provide original media and documentation.
• Remember the accessories.
• Save your new PC's paperwork for when it comes time to donate it.
• Bring it to Goodwill's Computer Works store at 6813 Rivers Avenue in North Charleston or to any Goodwill Donation Center.

What to donate:

• Desktop or laptop computers
• Monitors
• Computer accessories (keyboards, mouse, speakers, etc.)
• Scanners
• Manuals
• Software
• Disk Drives
• Cables
• Printers
• Ink & Toner cartridges
• Gaming systems and accessories