Hard Drives, SSDs, Thumb Drives, Cell Phones, Tablets — you get the idea. The risks tied to improper disposal of data-storing devices are well documented. Laws and regulations not only recommend secure destruction but also hold the data owners accountable in case of breaches. This makes preventative destruction essential for maintaining trust, legal compliance, and your business reputation.
We destroy the media businesses most often need to retire. The list below covers the most common requests.
- Hard drives (HDD) and solid-state drives (SSD) from computers, laptops and servers
- Data tapes and backup cartridges
- Thumb drives and memory cards
- CDs, DVDs and floppy disks
- Cell phones, tablets and other data-bearing devices
- Paper records
- On-site shredding at your location with our mobile shredder
- Off-site shredding at our Sacramento facility
- Data wiping for drives that will be reused
- Disassembly, so that drives and other storage are removed before the rest of the device is recycled
Shredded material goes to recycling and materials recovery; it is not sent to a landfill. Every job is documented, and detailed records for each device are available when you need them. We are certified to ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001 (occupational health and safety). Certificates of Destruction and compliance reports are provided, and the process supports the disposal requirements of FACTA, HIPAA, PCI DSS, GLBA, and California's data breach law (SB 1386).
Drives that arrive inside computers, laptops and servers are tested and wiped to NIST SP 800-88 so the equipment can be reused. One department handles testing, wiping and placement into resale inventory as a single linear process. A drive goes to physical destruction instead when:
- it fails testing or the wipe
- it arrives loose, outside a device
- you ask for it to be destroyed
Drives headed for destruction go into a secured vault at our Sacramento facility. We shred the vault's contents monthly, or sooner when it fills. If you want drives destroyed before they leave your building, our on-site shredding service does it at your location.
- Equipment is collected by our own crew, or delivered by your business to our Sacramento facility.
- Serial numbers are scanned and archived.
- Drives that fail testing or wiping, loose drives, and any drive you want destroyed are held in our secured vault and shredded completely.
- Shredded pieces are sent to a smelter for materials recovery.
- You receive documentation for the job, with per-device records available.
We provide end-to-end destruction services that are secure, compliant, and environmentally responsible. Here's what we offer:
- We provide the equipment you need
- We train you on the process
- We pick up from your location or accept business drop-offs
- We log everything securely
- We shred, wipe, recycle, or dispose of materials
- We issue certificates and compliance reports
Chain-of-custody tracking follows each item from pickup through final destruction, so you know where your data-bearing devices are at every stage.
Need a quote for a one-time destruction job or a recurring schedule? See our Secure Data Destruction Program for a fast quote.
Secure data destruction pickups run throughout California and parts of Nevada, including Sacramento, Bakersfield, Fresno, Modesto, Clovis, Carmichael, Rocklin, Placerville, Orinda, Pleasant Hill, Los Banos, Goleta, and Sparks, NV. See the full Service Areas list for coverage near you.
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.
A hard drive destruction service makes the data on retired drives unrecoverable and gives you a record that it happened. Shredding destroys the drive itself. Data wiping to NIST 800-88 sanitizes drives that are approved for reuse. The right method depends on the media type and condition, how sensitive the data is, and whether you need serial-level evidence.
With us, drives are removed from computers, laptops and servers, their serial numbers are scanned and archived, and they are shredded or wiped. Shredded material goes to a smelter for materials recovery, and you receive a Certificate of Destruction with serial-numbered reports.
Any business, agency or institution retiring equipment or records that hold confidential data needs a documented way to destroy them. Typical customers:
- Businesses retiring computers, servers, SSDs, tapes, phones or removable media.
- Healthcare, finance, legal and public-sector organizations holding confidential records.
- IT and compliance teams that must show a chain of custody and proof of destruction.
Volume does not decide it. One box of drives from a clinic or a law office can carry more risk than a truckload of ordinary electronics.
Retired drives and old records tend to sit in storage rooms until someone deals with them. Documented destruction closes the gaps that creates:
- Data that can still be recovered from drives, phones or paper that were thrown out or resold.
- Handoffs nobody recorded, which leave a hole in the audit trail if a breach is ever investigated.
- Identity theft, loss of intellectual property, and breaches of your own retention policy.
The Certificate of Destruction gives IT, facilities and compliance one record of what left the building and how it was destroyed.
HIPAA expects healthcare organizations to dispose of electronic patient information so it cannot be recovered. We handle the physical and documented part of that. We inventory the drives and devices that hold patient data, scan serial numbers before shredding, destroy the media at your location or at our Sacramento facility, and issue a Certificate of Destruction listing what was destroyed.
That record supports your disposal safeguards and your vendor file. Your organization still owns its HIPAA risk analysis, its retention schedule and the decision to release each device, which is why no destruction service is "HIPAA certified" on its own.
Modern Waste is certified to ISO 9001 for quality management, ISO 14001 for environmental management and ISO 45001 for occupational health and safety. Those audited management systems cover how we receive, track and process data-bearing media at our Sacramento facility, where we have handled secure recycling and data destruction for businesses since 1999.
On each job the evidence is the paperwork: serial numbers scanned before shredding, custody records from pickup to destruction, and a Certificate of Destruction listing what was destroyed. Our technicians also ask you to sort media before pickup into items approved for wiping and items that must be destroyed, so reusable drives and destroy-only media never share a workflow.
Choose on-site shredding when your policy says drives may not leave your control, or when staff need to watch them destroyed. We bring a mobile shredder to your location, shred the drives there and hand over a Certificate of Destruction.
Off-site shredding at our Sacramento facility suits larger or recurring volumes and loads mixed with other electronics. Drives travel in secured containers under chain of custody, and serial numbers are scanned before shredding.
| Factor | On-site | Off-site |
|---|---|---|
| Where media is destroyed | At your location, in our mobile shredder | At our Sacramento facility |
| Witnessing | Your staff can watch | Custody documented from pickup to shredding |
| Best fit | Highly sensitive drives, policies that forbid transport | Larger volumes, recurring pickups, mixed electronics |
| Certificate of Destruction | Issued at your site | Issued after processing |
Settle a few decisions before asking for a quote, because they change the crew, the equipment and the paperwork:
- Count drives, tapes, mobile devices, paper records and any unusual media separately.
- Decide whether destruction must happen at your location or can happen at our secure facility.
- State serial-number, witnessing and certificate requirements up front.
- Keep the media under controlled access, and hold back anything under a legal hold or retention rule until it is released.
Photos and a completion date with the request help us confirm what we accept and plan the collection.
Every job covers collection or on-site shredding, tracking, destruction, recycling of the shredded material, and a Certificate of Destruction. What changes from job to job is the media mix and how much detail goes into the report.
| Service element | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Collection | Locked containers and a documented pickup, or our mobile shredder at your site. |
| Tracking | Serial numbers scanned and archived before destruction, plus quantity and weight. |
| Destruction | Shredding of drives, SSDs, tapes, phones, optical media and paper; wiping for drives approved for reuse. |
| Recovery | Shredded material sent for materials recovery. |
| Closeout | Certificate of Destruction and serial-numbered reports. |
The quote lists which media and reports are included, so check it against your policy before the job is scheduled.
Call (916) 339-3676 or send a quote request with a rough count of what needs destroying: hard drives, SSDs, tapes, phones and tablets, optical media, and boxes of paper records. Count loose drives separately from drives still inside computers or servers, since those have to be removed before shredding and that takes labor.
Tell us whether destruction must happen at your location or can happen at our Sacramento facility, whether you need serial numbers on the certificate, and your deadline. With that we can quote the job and schedule a pickup or an on-site shred.
Pricing depends on media quantity and type, the destruction method, on-site versus off-site work, pickup logistics, inventory detail, and the reporting you need. A box of loose drives takes less labor than drives that first have to be pulled from computers and servers. Serial-number capture, witnessed on-site shredding and a tight deadline all add time.
Send an inventory and your requirements, and we will quote your actual load instead of a flat per-drive figure. The invoice follows the approved scope and any changes you sign off on during the job.
A data destruction job follows our six steps, with the security checks placed where they matter for media.
- Equipment: locked containers or secure packaging for drives, tapes and devices.
- Training: we show your staff which media goes in the secure container and what can be recycled with ordinary electronics.
- Pick-up: we collect from your business, or shred at your location with our mobile shredder.
- Tracking: serial numbers are scanned and archived before any drive is destroyed.
- Processing: media is shredded, or wiped when reuse has been approved. Shredded material goes to materials recovery.
- Reports: you receive a Certificate of Destruction and serial-numbered reports.
Our Sacramento operation can coordinate business data destruction with electronics recycling, asset disposition, and statewide pickup through one documented workflow. We have handled secure recycling and data destruction for businesses since 1999.
You can choose on-site shredding with our mobile shredder or off-site shredding at our facility. Serial numbers are scanned before drives are destroyed, and one pickup can cover the media to be destroyed and the rest of the electronics to be recycled. Timing, accepted materials and reports are confirmed for each project before it is scheduled.
You receive a Certificate of Destruction for the job. Depending on the work order, it comes with a serial-numbered report listing make, model, method and serial number for each drive, or with quantity and weight records for bulk loads, plus a recycling report for the processed material.
On-site shredding jobs get the certificate at your location; for off-site jobs it follows once processing is finished. If a serial number on the report does not match your inventory, we check it against the pickup ticket before the job is closed. The records support your audits, and your own compliance review still applies.