What to Do With an Old Computer
A practical Houston guide: protect your data, pick the right disposal route, and recycle for free in Sugar Land.
How do I get rid of my old computer?
Getting rid of an old computer safely comes down to three steps:
- Back up what you want to keep. Copy photos, documents, and passwords to a new machine, an external drive, or cloud storage before you do anything else.
- Deal with the data. Wipe the drive yourself (steps below) or bring the computer to a recycler that sanitizes drives. EverTrade sanitizes every drive per NIST SP 800-88, the federal standard for media sanitization.
- Recycle it. Drop-off at our Sugar Land facility (10100 Belknap Rd, Suite B5) is free for computers, laptops, and most electronics. No appointment needed during business hours, and a self-service bin outside our rollup door is available anytime.
Businesses retiring multiple machines can also request a pickup, free for qualifying quantities depending on the volume and type of equipment. Call (832) 777-3002 with what you have.
What's the best way to dispose of old computers?
You have four realistic options, and the right one depends on the computer's age and condition:
Recycle it (best for most computers). A reputable recycler recovers the metals, keeps hazardous components out of landfills, and destroys the data. This is the right answer for anything older than about five years, anything broken, and anything that held sensitive files.
Donate it (newer, working machines only). Schools and charities can use a machine that still runs modern software, but wipe the drive first. Donating a computer with your data on it is a bigger risk than most people realize.
Trade it in. Manufacturers and carriers offer trade-in credit for recent laptops. If your machine is less than three or four years old, check the trade-in value before recycling.
Retail drop-off programs. Big-box stores accept some electronics, often with item limits and fees. Policies on data handling vary, which brings up the next question.
Will a retail store wipe my computer before recycling it?
Policies vary by retailer and change over time, and most retail programs put responsibility for your personal data on you: the fine print typically asks you to remove data before dropping the device off. Some stores offer wiping as a separate paid service.
If data security matters to you, either wipe the drive yourself before any drop-off, or use a recycler whose sanitization process is documented. Every drive EverTrade receives is sanitized per NIST SP 800-88, and business clients receive a Certificate of Destruction listing each drive by serial number.
How do I wipe my computer clean before selling or recycling?
Whether you're selling, donating, or recycling the machine, the process is the same. First, back up your files and sign out of your accounts (iCloud, Microsoft, Google). Then:
- Windows: Settings, then System, then Recovery, then Reset this PC. Choose Remove everything and enable the Clean data option, which overwrites the drive rather than just deleting the index.
- Mac: System Settings, then General, then Transfer or Reset, then Erase All Content and Settings. On Apple silicon and T2 Macs this cryptographically erases the data.
- Older machines with traditional hard drives: use dedicated wiping software that overwrites every sector. A quick format is not enough.
Does a factory reset completely wipe a computer?
Not reliably. On older computers with spinning hard drives, a factory reset removes the file index but leaves much of the underlying data recoverable with free software. Modern devices with encrypted SSDs do better, but results vary by manufacturer and configuration. For anything sensitive, a NIST SP 800-88 aligned wipe or physical destruction is the dependable standard, and it is what we perform on every drive.
One more myth worth flattening: drilling a hole through a hard drive, or soaking it in water, does not reliably destroy the data. See the FAQ on our hard drive destruction page for why.
Are old computers worth anything in scrap?
A little, but usually less than people hope. A typical desktop contains small amounts of copper wiring, aluminum heatsinks, and trace gold on the circuit boards, worth a few dollars at commodity scrap prices. Recovering those materials safely requires specialized processing, which is why scrap yards pay little or nothing for whole computers.
The real value in recycling a computer is not the payout. It is keeping lead, mercury, and flame retardants out of landfills, and making sure the drive inside is actually destroyed rather than sitting in a scrap pile with your files intact.
What should I do with a 20 year old computer?
Recycle it. A machine that old has essentially no resale or donation value, but it still contains recoverable metals, hazardous components, and a hard drive full of readable data. Old drives are actually easier to recover data from, since they predate hardware encryption. Drop-off is free at our Sugar Land facility, working or not.
Can old computers be thrown in the garbage?
You should never put a computer in the garbage or a dumpster, for three reasons:
Environmental hazards. Circuit boards, batteries, and older displays contain lead, mercury, cadmium, and brominated flame retardants. In a landfill these leach into soil and groundwater. Laptop lithium batteries are also a documented fire risk in garbage trucks and transfer stations.
Your hauler may refuse it. Many municipal waste programs and landfills in the Houston area do not accept electronics in regular trash, and commercial dumpster contracts commonly prohibit them.
Data exposure. An intact hard drive in the trash can be pulled out and read by anyone. Tax records, passwords, photos, and business files are all recoverable from a discarded drive. Removing the drive first helps, but the rest of the machine still needs recycling, and the drive itself still needs proper destruction.
Since drop-off is free for computers and most electronics at EverTrade, there is no reason to take any of those risks. Note that flat-screen TVs carry a $20 fee, and CRT (tube-style) TVs and monitors are not accepted; use the Texas Recycles TVs or Texas Recycles Computers programs for those.
Ready to Recycle Your Old Computer?
Free drop-off for most electronics at 10100 Belknap Rd, Suite B5, Sugar Land, TX 77498. Every drive sanitized per NIST SP 800-88.