It's no small task to move out an entire department of computers, copiers, and Information Technology (IT) assets. Moving an entire building is enough to be the responsibility of a completely different company, but it doesn't have to be a massive financial headache. There are ways to streamline the process, and with a good recycling plan, you can cut down the costs of removal significantly. Here are a few cost and efficiency points to make any business recycling plan better for computers and other business electronics.

Phasing Versus One-Time Removal

When removing old systems, you need to decide on the pace of removal (and replacement, if new systems are coming in). There are many options on the spectrum of removal and replacement, but two key philosophies are on opposite sides of the spectrum: phasing and one-time removal.

With phasing, the idea is to remove pieces, sections, or parts of your electronics inventory slowly to avoid service interruptions. This could include changing the systems of different departments one at a time or setting specific upgrade dates for specific groups of employees. This allows some operations to continue while ensuring that the upgrade happens.

Phasing is fine if your business has an on-site, always staffed IT department. Unless they have other projects that provide profit or efficiency to the business at the time, your only loss of efficiency is in the specific systems being moved. If you're contracting an IT team or removal team, you'll unfortunately be paying more as the project drags on.

To get it all over with for lower hourly/daily costs, you may want to shut down operations for removal or set removal for after hours. A full day shut down for a one-time removal takes away from your business' productivity, but you won't have to worry about slow upgrades if those upgrades can speed you to greater performance.

Recycling, Disposal, And Storage Planning

What will you do with the old systems? In most states, you can't simply throw computers and copiers on the curb or in the general trash unless you want to deal with fines--and a business large enough for multiple systems is large enough to be made into an example by local authorities.

To both stay legal and make removal efficient, you need to create a recycling staging and disposal area. This means renting a separate dumpster or roll off container for recyclable electronics and designating a specific path for workers bringing the systems outside.

If possible, place the recycling disposal area far enough from the standard garbage so that employees and passersby won't throw their general garbage into the recycling bins. Roll off containers in an area not accessible by the general public can be a big help since workers can simply put down computers instead of lifting and reaching in painful positions.

Contact a sanitation and recycling professional from a company like Chitty Garbage Service Inc for a clean, new recycling dumpster or roll off dumpster to make your next system removal more efficient.