- Branch workstations, check scanners, receipt printers and phones
- ATMs, interactive teller machines and drive-up teller electronics
- Servers, storage, backup tapes and network equipment from branch closets and data centers
- UPS units and their batteries
ATMs are often retired for security or feature upgrades while they still work. They still hold card and transaction data, and their electronics still need proper recycling.
Our hard drive destruction service is built to meet FACTA, GLBA, PCI DSS and Sarbanes-Oxley requirements, along with California's SB 1386. Your policy decides which media can be wiped to NIST 800-88 and which must be destroyed. We follow it and document the result for each serial number. For the most sensitive media, your security team can watch on-site shredding.
Institutions with several branches get the same method and record format at every site, so results can be compared across locations. Leased equipment is wiped and documented before it goes back to the lessor, and any resale recovery is reported separately from service charges.
A branch cleanout often turns up office batteries and fluorescent lamps and ballasts. We can collect them on the same visit, through battery recycling and ballast disposal.
Banks and credit unions retire more than laptops. Branch workstations, check scanners, ATMs and teller equipment, servers, backup tapes and UPS batteries all come out of service, and anything that held account or card data needs a wipe or destruction decision before it moves. We record each drive by serial number and deliver certificates you can hand to examiners and auditors.
Simplify your compliance and disposal process with bundled recycling services that handle both electronic devices and batteries in one streamlined solution.
Our scheduled, route-based pickups cover all major regions of California—ensuring efficient, on-time service no matter where you operate.
We provide clearly labeled, tamper-resistant containers to ensure safe and compliant collection of electronic waste and batteries at your location.
Modern Waste Solutions has served businesses and communities across California with dependable, environmentally responsible recycling solutions for over two decades.
We adhere to all California and federal regulations, ensuring your electronic and battery waste is managed with complete transparency and environmental responsibility.
Reviews
A little bit off the beaten track in Natomas, but Modern Waste quickly and efficiently helped me recycle my broken Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries at a reasonable $/lb fee (Sac county e-waste will not accept these items). Ramiro and Vincent were very friendly and helpful.
Chris was awesome! He came in and picked up all of the e-waste we had ready for him. He was polite and professional throughout the entire process. He handled the equipment with care, including the site equipment that was already in place. I am very happy with his service and appreciate the great job he did.
Aaron and Vincent were awesome, excellent customer service!
Great guys, excellent customer service, highly recommend!
Polite, quick and easy.
Chris from modern waste was the most outstanding respectful person I ever met my life when he was done he offered to sweep the floors. He offered so much even though he was limited on time he went out of his way and he’s over beyond best guy I ever met thank you so much for your service services Dan ITG.
We have answers.
Our technicians recommend separating media by required outcome before anything is unplugged, so a reusable server, a drive eligible for wiping and a destroy-only device never travel in the same unrecorded batch.
- Drives, backup tapes and devices with storage are logged by serial number at pickup.
- Our own technicians load and transport the equipment under chain of custody.
- Media is wiped to NIST 800-88 or shredded, as your policy directs.
- The certificate of destruction lists each serial number, so it can be matched to your asset register.
Wiping fits equipment that will keep working, such as workstations going to resale or leased hardware going back to the lessor. We wipe to NIST SP 800-88 Clear or Purge, verify each drive, and report the result by serial number. A drive that fails verification or cannot be read goes to physical destruction.
Shredding fits media your policy says must be destroyed, as well as damaged drives, old backup tapes and drives from equipment with no resale value. If your security team wants to see it happen, we can shred on site.
Examiners and auditors look for a written policy, a method that matches it, and records showing the method was applied to each drive. The wipe or the shred is only one part of that.
We apply one method and one record format at every location, which keeps the results comparable between branches.
- Equipment: Each branch gets containers for drives and e-waste, plus separate ones for batteries.
- Training: Branch staff learn what goes where and which devices must be flagged as data-bearing.
- Pick-up: Collections follow a set schedule or a list of sites, so no branch is skipped.
- Tracking: Serial numbers are recorded against the branch they came from.
- Processing: Media is wiped or shredded, and the remaining equipment is triaged for reuse or recycling.
- Reports: Certificates can be issued per branch or combined for the whole program.
Begin with a list of sites and a rough count of what each one is retiring: workstations, ATMs and teller equipment, servers, loose drives, backup tapes and batteries. Photos help with anything large or bolted down.
Then tell us three things. Which media has to be destroyed rather than wiped, and whether someone from your team needs to witness it. When crews can work without disrupting branch hours. Who should receive the certificates.
Our Sacramento team schedules business pickups across California, subject to route availability. Send the details through the quote form or call (916) 339-3676.
It is the retirement of technology that has held customer or account data: branch workstations, check scanners, receipt printers, ATMs and interactive teller machines, servers, storage, backup tapes and network gear.
What separates it from an ordinary electronics pickup is the record. Each asset receives an outcome (reuse, wipe, destroy or recycle), and that outcome is written down against its serial number. ATMs are a good example. Banks often retire them for security or feature upgrades well before they stop working, which means they still hold card and transaction data and still contain electronics that need proper recycling.
When retired equipment has resale value, any recovery is reported on its own line, apart from service charges.
A bank server room or data center exit usually includes:
- De-racking, palletizing and removal of servers, storage arrays, switches, routers and racks by our own crew.
- Removal of UPS units, with their batteries sent through our battery recycling process instead of the e-waste stream.
- Drive wiping or shredding according to your policy, including boot drives and backup tapes.
- An inventory reconciled against your release list.
- Erasure reports or destruction certificates, plus a certificate of recycling.
For the full scope, see data center and UPS decommissioning.
Most of the risk sits in equipment nobody is watching:
- Account and card data left on retired drives, copiers, ATMs and backup tapes in storage.
- Branches that each handle disposal their own way, which leaves inconsistent records at audit time.
- Missing proof of destruction when examiners or internal audit ask for it.
- Old hardware that loses its resale value the longer it sits in a storeroom.
A scheduled program with serial-level certificates takes care of each one and gives compliance a single file to point to.
Ask to see the paperwork before you sign. A useful checklist:
- A sample certificate of destruction that lists serial numbers and the method used. Our guide to the certificate of destruction explains what it should contain.
- A witnessed on-site shredding option for your most sensitive media.
- Clarity on who handles your equipment, whether employees or subcontractors.
- A plan for ATMs, backup tapes and branch equipment in addition to laptops.
- Current certificates for the provider's quality, environmental and safety management systems.
Modern Waste Solutions holds ISO 9001, ISO 14001 and ISO 45001, uses its own drivers, and has destroyed data for businesses since 1999.
Settle these points internally first:
- Sort assets by data sensitivity and decide which may be wiped and which must be destroyed.
- Choose between off-site shredding and witnessed on-site shredding for the destroy-only group.
- Agree on the inventory fields and serial-number format that audit needs, and name the people who receive certificates.
- Plan removal windows so that branch service and data center operations are not interrupted.
Other regulated items often turn up in the same cleanout, such as office batteries and fluorescent lamps and ballasts. List them so they can be handled on the same visit.
The usual triggers are a merger that leaves two server rooms where one will do, a move to colocation or cloud hosting, or a branch closure program that retires the local server closets.
Banks, credit unions and other financial firms use the service, and so do the IT security and compliance teams who have to sign off on the result. A small server closet at one branch can carry as much customer data as a full data hall, so the same documentation applies to both.