Office Cleanout: Desks, File Cabinets & Old IT Gear Hauled Out

Pennsylvania's Covered Device Recycling Act took effect as a disposal ban on January 24, 2013. Since then, desktops, laptops, monitors, computer peripherals and TVs can't be thrown out with municipal waste.^[1][2]

The law defines a peripheral as a keyboard, printer or any other device sold only for external use with a computer. Office phones are specifically excluded from the definition.^[2]

Businesses with fewer than 50 employees may use the state's covered-device collection sites. Larger businesses and public entities have to make their own recycling arrangements.^[3]

Wipe or pull the hard drives before the computers leave the building. The York County Solid Waste Authority recommends wiping personal data before recycling electronics, and Lancaster County's authority states plainly that it does not destroy data on devices it receives.^[4][5]

The same goes for paper. Shred or box up confidential files yourself before we arrive. We haul cabinets and boxes; we don't sort through them.

Most office cleanouts run backwards from a date: the day the keys go back to the landlord. Work out early what's moving to the new space, what employees are taking home and what's going in our truck. Label the keepers with tape or sticky notes so nobody has to guess.

Then get the electronics wiped and the files shredded or boxed before the cleanout day, not during it. When we arrive, the job is just carrying things out.

This page is for clearing a working office: furniture, files and IT equipment. If you're a landlord, realtor or property manager turning over a unit or a storefront, our commercial junk removal page is the better fit.

Not sure which one you need? Text the photos anyway. William will price what he sees, whatever we end up calling it.