UCLA Hires E-Waste Security for Secure Hard Disk Destruction Project

The Internet beats to a rhythm first developed at UCLA in 1969 as part of an ARPAnet research project. According to History.com, “The first computer was located in a research lab at UCLA and the second was at Stanford; each one was the size of a small house.”

UCLA’s centrality to Internet use and development continues today. Only its data centers now hook up with tens of thousands of computers and other electronic devices used by the school, professors and students. That’s why UCLA contracted E-Waste Security to securely destroy the data on its hard drives, as well as sensitive data and other confidential information stored on its digital media and decommissioned equipment. E-Waste Security’s Los Angeles facility is just 6 miles from UCLA’s campus.

These days, electronic data is more important for studies and research than books and libraries. “IT Services comprises 10 units, all working together to bring you cost-efficient and innovative technology,” explains the school’s IT Services department. “We are partnering with academic, research, and administrative units throughout UCLA to help advance departmental missions, enhance productivity, and leverage cost-effective IT infrastructure.”

For the school’s 43,000 students, 26,000 academic staff and 4,000 teaching staff, the electronic and data load is tremendous. So is the subsequent need for IT recycling and IT asset disposition. Data destruction and hard-disk drive destruction also are crucial to the school’s mission.

UCLA’s Health Sustainability Program explains that e-waste is “Equipment or devices operated through an electronic power cord or battery that is near or at the end of its useful life. Examples of e-waste include” Computer monitors, CPUs, telephones, cell phones, fax machines, desktop printers, medical equipment, hard drives and loose circuit boards.

UCLA contracted with E-Waste security because our firm is expert in all these types of e-waste disposal – and does so on-site under the direct inspection of school officials.

The firm also advances UCLA’s ecological imperative. As E-Waste Security explained on its website, “One of the most important and responsible actions you can take … is to make sure that your electronics are properly disposed of: it not only is good for the environment, but also helps to protect the security of the information on your devices.”

“Let there be light” is UCLA’s motto. But light is the last thing you want with electronic waste. Instead, you want darkness – as in total destruction to avoid digital rip-offs of sensitive material. As UCLA’s systems are replaced and improved, the old data centers and hard disk drives must be destroyed and the IT assets properly disposed.

As with E-Waste Security’s other government agencies or private businesses, the digital media and decommissioned equipment are destroyed onsite, where school personally directly can inspect and control the process, also guaranteeing compliance according to environmental, health and other criteria.