Preparing Your Electronics for Recycling
Preparing For Pickup
- Business: Thank you for having the material staged in an accessible location prior to service. Staging the items near a ground level entrance or elevator access is appreciated.
- Schools: Thank you for having the material staged near a ground level entrance prior to service.
- Residential: Thank you for having the material staged outside of a ground level entrance or just inside a garage entry. Please have billable items, such as lamps/batteries/ink/toner/media, separated out from the electronics, whenever possible.
- Please remove and separate all removable batteries, such as Alkaline, from devices like remote controls, alarms, radios etc. Laptop and tool batteries can remain with the device.
- Please remove and separate all packaging. We can recycle your cardboard, styrofoam but ask that it be separated.
- CD’s, DVD’s, Cassette, VHS, DLT and all types of magnetic media should be sorted and kept separate from the other e-waste. These are recyclable however there is a per pound fee.
- Ink/toner cartridges can remain in printers. However, if you have loose cartridges, please have these separate from the e-waste. Toner bottles and ribbons are not recyclable. Please dispose of these by other means.
- Have items sorted and grouped together with like items.
- No loose items. Please keep wire, cables, mice and keyboards separated from other e-waste and in a container. GCER can provide a container, please request at time of scheduling.
- Have items on a ground level near an exit so that it is accessible to GCER staff. Please, let us know of any special requirements at the time of pick up.
Loose hard drives, mobile devices, and other items containing sensitive data (such as thumb drives or media) should be separated from mixed electronics whenever possible. Please let us know when scheduling, and we’ll provide a locked roll cart for added security during transport.
If you’re including tablets, mobile devices, or other relevant items, please ensure they are removed from iCloud or any other management services before service. This preparation allows us to utilize proprietary software to wipe the data, verify the wiping process, record serial numbers, and issue certificates based on this secure data destruction.
- Apple devices: remove iCloud lock or remote management, no need to clear individual device pin locks. This means you do not need access to each individual device. In the event we cannot access Apple Devices due to remote management or iCloud lock: We can still wipe them and verify wipe however there is no re-use.
- Android devices: We will need these placed in ‘developer mode’. So, we ask that all pin locks be removed. In the event we cannot access Android devices, We cannot wipe or destroy data, software is unable to access. We can ONLY physically destroy and cannot verify data destruction.
Prepare your mobile devices for recycling:
For Apple Devices
You can use the Find My iPhone app on an iOS device.
- Sign in with your Apple ID
- Select the device that you donated
- Tap Actions (if you are not taken straight into Actions)
***Note: Skip straight to Step 6 if the device has already been erased, or if the device is listed as “Offline” in the list.
- Tap Erase iPhone and tap Erase iPhone again
- Tap Erase and confirm
- Tap Remove from Account and confirm again.
You can use iCloud.com/find on a Computer
- Navigate to iCloud.com/find on a computer and sign in with your Apple ID
- Click All Devices at the top of the screen
- Select the device that you have donated ***Note: Skip straight to Step 5 if the device has already been erased, or if the device is listed as “Offline” in the list.
- Click Erase iPhone and confirm action
- Click Remove from Account and confirm.
You can also find the instructions on Apple’s website here: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201441
Hours: Monday through Friday 8 to 5, Saturday 11-3
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We service Oregon and Washington
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Mail in your electronic waste no matter where you are
