Composition and value of returned consumer and industrial information technology equipment

Due to continuing technological advances, information technology (IT) equipment has maintained an ever decreasing product lifecycle. In the industrial sector, this usually means a rapid turnover of recent vintage computer systems that are loaded with still remarketable parts and assemblies. In the consumer sector, this rapid turnover coupled with consumer reluctance to discard their outdated equipment, has resulted in the return of aged systems of questionable value. Therefore, as systems are returned to remanufacturing or demanufacturing centers, it becomes key to understand the compositional make-up and characteristics of the systems so that the "breakpoints" of value for resale, parts recovery, or commodity and material disposal options are known. This paper first presents data obtained from characterizing a sample of returns of IBM(R) equipment from the industrial sector. Items such as resale value, expected parts recovery value, and strict material recovery by system vintage are highlighted. Second, data characterizing returns on systems collected during a community personal computer takeback offering is presented. Items such as product composition by component and weight, processor technology, and monitor/display conditions are discussed.