Scope
This policy covers all data-bearing devices collected by Recycle4Charity — including laptops, desktops, tablets, smartphones, hard drives, SSDs, USB drives, magnetic tape cartridges and any other storage media collected as part of an IT disposal or donation.
Data destruction methods
Certified software erasure
Functional drives — HDDs and SSDs — are wiped using certified software that overwrites all data sectors to recognised standards. A per-drive erasure report is generated confirming the process and outcome. Wiped drives may be refurbished for reuse.
Physical shredding
Drives and media that cannot be reliably wiped — including failed drives, encrypted media and certain specialist storage — are physically shredded. Shredding reduces the media to fragments that cannot be reconstructed. A certificate of destruction is issued per item.
Why we do not use degaussing
Degaussing is effective only on magnetic storage (older HDDs and tape cartridges). It has no effect on solid-state drives (SSDs), which store data in flash memory. Since SSDs are now standard in most business IT, degaussing is not used in our process.
Chain of custody
Every device is logged at asset level on collection. Data-bearing items are identified and processed before any device is assessed for refurbishment or passed to recycling. No data-bearing device is reused, resold or recycled before destruction is confirmed.
Documentation
On completion of every collection, the client receives a certificate of data destruction for each data-bearing device processed, stating the device details, destruction method and date. This document satisfies UK GDPR accountability requirements and ICO guidance. See what a certificate of data destruction should include.
Related policies
WEEE & Environmental Policy | Privacy Policy