How To Scrap A Laptop

Laptops are some of the most common electronic devices that can be easily recycled for a profit. On average, a person or business replaces their laptop after three to five years of use. That means businesses, non profit organizations, and even individuals will have multiple laptops sitting around collecting dust. In order to make the most money from scrapping laptops, you’ll have to make some key decisions and do some quick research before sending your laptops off to the electronic scrap yard.

Step One: Double Check Your Laptops – Especially Your Vintage Ones

Believe it or not, some older laptops are much more valuable when sold on an ecommerce site like eBay as opposed to scrapping them. This can be true even if the laptop is completely broken and doesn’t even power on! Many sellers report good profits on broken and old Apple laptops especially as there are many collectors or other people who enjoy repairing these vintage laptops. While you probably don’t have time to check every single brand and model laptop you have to scrap, especially if you have a large quantity of them, you may want to set aside a select few to check against similar ones sold on eBay or another online marketplace.

Step Two: Battery Vs No Battery

Some ewaste buyers prefer to have the laptop’s battery removed before recycling. Other electronic scrap yards will offer different prices for laptops with and without battery, and then will also purchase the batteries seperately. You can do some quick math based on current market prices to see which option will be the most beneficial for you. You’ll also have to calculate the amount of time and effort it will take to remove the batteries – particularly if the batteries are located behind a plastic cover you have to remove. Taking a battery out of one laptop may only take a minute or two, but if 100 laptops need to have batteries removed that time can add up quickly.

Step Three: Recycle The Whole Laptop At Once?

Most electronic scrap yards will buy whole laptops, and they usually pay by the pound. In addition to having different prices for laptops with or without batteries, some scrap yards will also have different prices that reflect if the laptop is complete or not. You may have to check with each electronic scrap yard about their definition of complete to make sure you are not sending incomplete laptops (and making less money than you thought you would).

You may also choose to dismantle a laptop and sell the different parts inside of it. The valuable parts inside a laptop include the RAM, the motherboard, the screen, the CPU, the battery, and more. Keep in mind that these parts, as well as other parts like the keyboard or any wireless cards inside the laptop, may be able to be sold on a site like eBay if they are still in working order. You may make a good amount of money from these components if they are from laptops that are vintage (and therefore the parts are hard to find) or popular models. Some business owners even have luck selling individual keys from the keyboard!

Generally, more money can be made from dismantling a laptop than from simply scrapping it whole. However, the final decision will come down to how much time you have, how much effort you’ll want to put into it, and your storage space. After all, you will have to store the laptops somewhere before and while you’re processing them. If you have a small space, you may not have the luxury of dismantling laptops before scrapping them.

Step Four: Dealing With The Hard Drive

Many people completely forget about the laptop’s hard drive when scrapping a laptop. If you have sensitive information stored on a hard drive, you will want to destroy it before sending it to the electronic scrap yard. If the hard drive is still working, there are many different software options available to help you erase a hard drive securely. Some of these options are free like DBan or KillDisk, while others require payment to use.

Hard drives may also be resold or reused in another laptop if they are still in working condition. There are a wide variety of tools and software programs you can use to check the health of the hard drive to determine if it is suitable for resale or reuse.

This is just an overview of the process for scrapping a laptop. It is important to research pricing for separate components and to understand the time and effort involved for dismantling a laptop before deciding on how to proceed. ELEMS can help you make the best decision on how to maximize your profit for scrap laptops, so feel free to contact us with questions at any time.