The IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) industry is rapidly growing, grappling with an ever-increasing tide of electronic waste. In 2021, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory estimated that 20 to 70 million hard disk drives (HDDs) reach their end-of-life (EOL) each year in the United States alone, with most collected from data centers. With over 10,000 data centers worldwide as of March 2024 (a 25% increase from 2021), and ongoing construction with the US data center market trend growing by 24.4% and Europe by nearly 20% year-over-year in Q1 2024, the rising number of decommissioned hard drives creates a complex e-waste landscape. This scenario is riddled with data security concerns but also brimming with potential for responsible recycling.
Content
- Introducing the DiskMantler™
- How It Works
- Key Features
- Impacts of Traditional Disposal Methods
- The Importance of E-Waste Management
- Coming Soon: Garner’s Exclusive DeMag™
Introducing the DiskMantler™
Garner Products is leading the industry with the DiskMantler™—a patent-pending, cutting-edge device that disassembles hard drives into their largest components, significantly advancing the ITAD industry and providing the most promising circular economy pathways for EOL HDDs.
How It Works
The DiskMantler™ is engineered to dismantle decommissioned hard drives efficiently. Using a process of precise shock, harmonics, and vibration, the DiskMantler™ disassembles hard drives into key components, including the case, cover, PC board, platters, voice coil, and rare-earth magnets. This method is not only efficient but also environmentally responsible, enabling the recycling and repurposing of valuable materials.
Key Features:
- Precision Disassembly: The DiskMantler™ uses engineered precision to disassemble hard drives within 8 to 90 seconds, preserving the integrity of individual components for recycling.
- Environmentally Friendly: By facilitating the recovery of valuable materials, the DiskMantler™ promotes eco-friendly disposal methods, eliminating toxic waste and reducing environmental impact.
A hard drive after being disassembled by the DiskMantler™.
Impacts of Traditional Disposal Methods
The DiskMantler™ is a far superior process to traditional hard drive destruction methods such as shredding, crushing, or pulverizing EOL HDDs as these traditional processes pose significant data security, environmental, and economic challenges.
In an earlier blog post, we explored the power of forensic data recovery, and why shredded hard drive fragments create data security liability.
In addition, traditional hard drive destruction methods have a negative impact on our environment:
- Microplastics and Dust: Physical destruction processes generate microplastics and dust, which can contaminate the air and soil, potentially harming wildlife and ecosystems.
- Hazardous Material Release: Hard drives contain hazardous materials like lead, mercury, and cadmium, as well as toxic substances like brominated flame retardants. Improper handling during physical destruction increases the risk of these materials leaking into the environment.
- Energy Consumption: Shredding, crushing, or pulverizing equipment requires significant energy, adding up considerably when dealing with large volumes of e-waste globally.
Traditional hard drive destruction methods have negative economic impacts:
- Loss of Valuable Resources: Hard drives contain valuable materials such as rare earth metals, copper, and gold. Physical destruction makes recovering these resources challenging and reduces their potential economic value.
- Reduced Recycling Efficiency: Shredded or crushed hard drives become a mixed waste stream, complicating the separation and recovery of valuable materials, thereby reducing overall recycling efficiency.
The Importance of E-Waste Management
E-waste is a growing global concern. The United Nations reports that only about 20% of e-waste is formally recycled, while the rest is often improperly disposed of, leading to significant environmental and health hazards. Electronic Waste Facts echoes this, stating that just 12.5% of e-waste is recycled. The DiskMantler™ addresses this issue by enabling more efficient recycling of hard drive components, contributing to a reduction in global e-waste.
According to NREL, “In the best recycling scenario with the highest material recovery, the total mass of recovered rare earth elements in 2050 increases to 107,000 metric tons, $6 billion goes into the U.S. economy, and 2 million metric tons of Co2 emissions are avoided.”
Hard drives contain valuable rare-earth elements such as neodymium, essential for various high-tech applications. The demand for these materials is expected to grow, but inefficient recovery processes have limited recycling output.
With the DiskMantler™, Garner Products is poised to revolutionize access to this untapped market. By efficiently disassembling hard drives, the machine simplifies the extraction of rare-earth elements and their reintegration into the supply chain. This enhances the sustainability of technology and improves supply chain security. Straits Research projects the rare earth recycling market to reach $882 million by 2031. The DiskMantler™ offers a reliable solution for recovering these valuable materials and is well-positioned to play a significant role in this growing market.
Add Garner's Exclusive DeMAG™
The DiskMantler™ is just the beginning. Garner Products continues to innovate, developing new solutions to meet the evolving needs of the ITAD industry. One such innovation is the DeMAG™—a patent-pending super degausser.
Your first line of defense in the hard drive decommissioning process is data destruction. Degaussing, when performed with a degausser of appropriate strength, is the most effective method for data destruction. The DeMAG™ not only eliminates all magnetic fields on HDD platters, ensuring data is forensically unrecoverable, but it also demagnetizes the rare-earth magnets, making them manageable and easily sortable after disassembly.
The state-of-the-art DeMAG™ combines degaussing and demagnetizing, providing the highest level of data security. Together, Garner Products’ DiskMantler™ and DeMAG™ offer the most comprehensive solution on the market for data destruction, hard drive disposal, and recycling.
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Join the Revolution
Stay ahead in the ITAD industry by adopting cutting-edge technology that not only secures your data but also promotes sustainable practices. Contact Garner Products today to learn more about the DiskMantler™ and how it can revolutionize your ITAD and e-waste management processes. Visit our website or call us at 800-624-1903 for a consultation and see how you can contribute to a more sustainable future.
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