5 Tools You Need To Process Your E-Waste

Many people are interested in scrapping ewaste as a way to make some extra money or better manage their inventory of electronics. Maybe you own a computer repair shop or an electronics recycling facility and you end up with many outdated electronic items. Or maybe you are the IT director at a school, hospital, or business who needs to manage the disposal of old computers. You’ll often make more money, even when factoring the time involved, if you process and sort your own escrap. Time is money, and knowing what tools to have on hand will help cut down on the amount of time you spend processing your ewaste for sale. Before you get started, there are some essential tools you will need to have on hand to make the job of tearing down defunct computers easier and safer.

1) A Cordless Electric Drill

An electric drill is an absolute must for anyone who will be processing escrap. Desktops, servers, and laptops all contain numerous screws that must be removed so you can get to the valuable components inside. A regular screwdriver could work, but an electric drill will make the job more than twice as fast. Make sure you also have a drill bit set with a variety of different drill bits inside. Depending on the electronic item, you’ll come phillips, flathead, and torx screws of various sizes while processing.

We recommend getting a lightweight drill. You usually won’t need much power, and even an experienced scrapper can get sore or tired after hours of taking apart electronic items.

2) Wire Cutters

You will need to trim wires to free many of the valuable components inside electronics. You may also need to strip wires as well as you are processing your escrap

3) Pliers

Pliers are extremely useful for when you need to remove items like motherboards. These items are attached to the computer’s chassis with thick wires which can sometimes be hard to disconnect. Instead of spending time disconnecting them the proper way, a good pair of pliers can help you rip the wires away quickly and move on to the next project. One of the benefits of scrapping electronics is we don’t have to worry about breaking anything! If possible, having pliers of various sizes on hand is a good idea.

4) Thick Work Gloves

Many electronic items contain components that are surprisingly sharp. Most people will cut or scrape themselves at least once while taking apart a computer for escrap. A thick, snugly fitting pair of work gloves will protect your hand from cuts and scrapes.

5) Glasses

Most people don’t think to wear glasses while processing ewaste. However, we highly recommend that you do. It is very easy to pull on a motherboard or extract a hard drive and have a screw or other small bit of debris come flying out with it. We have known more than one person who has gotten hit in the eye this way. Glasses are cheap and can be found at any hardware store, so it makes sense to take the extra precaution to protect your eyes while working with your escrap.