Where hyperscale hardware goes to retire: Ars visits a very big ITAD site

Inside the laptop/desktop examination bay at SK TES’s Fredericksburg, Va. site.

Credit:
SK tes

The details of each unit—CPU, memory, HDD size—are taken down and added to the asset tag, and the device is sent on to be physically examined. This step is important because “many a concealed drive finds its way into this line,” Kent Green, manager of this site, told me. Inside the machines coming from big firms, there are sometimes little USB, SD, SATA, or M.2 drives hiding out. Some were make-do solutions installed by IT and not documented, and others were put there by employees tired of waiting for more storage. “Some managers have been pretty surprised when they learn what we found,” Green said.

With everything wiped and with some sense of what they’re made of, each device gets a rating. It’s a three-character system, like “A-3-6,” based on function, cosmetic condition, and component value. Based on needs, trends, and other data, devices that are cleared for resale go to either wholesale, retail, component harvesting, or scrap.

Full-body laptop skins

Wiping down and prepping a laptop, potentially for a full-cover adhesive skin.

Credit:
SK TES

If a device has retail value, it heads into a section of this giant facility where workers do further checks. Automated software plays sounds on the speakers, checks that every keyboard key is sending signals, and checks that laptop batteries are at 80 percent capacity or better. At the end of the line is my favorite discovery: full-body laptop skins.

Some laptops—certain Lenovo, Dell, and HP models—are so ubiquitous in corporate fleets that it’s worth buying an adhesive laminating sticker in their exact shape. They’re an uncanny match for the matte black, silver, and slightly less silver finishes of the laptops, covering up any blemishes and scratches. Watching one of the workers apply this made me jealous of their ability to essentially reset a laptop’s condition (so one could apply whole new layers of swag stickers, of course). Once rated, tested, and stickered, laptops go into a clever “cradle” box, get the UN 3481 “battery inside” sticker, and can be sold through retail.