An island business has been steadily adding IT asset destruction and recycling to its existing document storage, destruction and recycling business.

It is pivoting towards the handling of “tech clutter” – most importantly, the secure processing of the hard drives and other electronic storage media that might have sensitive data.

Along with its reinvention, which has been rolled out quietly, a rebranding has been undertaken.

Central Filing, Guardian and Vault, three existing business, have been brought under a single name: Origin.

The handling of IT waste has become a big problem and, consequently, a big business globally. Corporations have to get data media properly destroyed to prevent the loss of sensitive information, while the resulting waste must be handled properly, ideally recycled.

Detritus from shredded and otherwise destroyed electronics must be properly sorted, categorised, transported, stored and processed. It must not simply be dumped in landfill or exported to poorer nations willing to take the dangerous materials, which can include mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium, selenium and chromium.

Origin said it utilised state-of-the-art equipment, including a Garner degausser and HD150 Hard Drive and Allegheny shredders, allowing it to erase data and then break the media down into small parts impossible to reassemble or read.

It issues a Certificate of Destruction to the client for their records after the successful destruction of media.

The company said: “Origin's diverse clientele, comprising both corporate entities and individuals, often turn to us out of sheer necessity.

“Faced with obsolete computers and laptops, outdated printers, discarded hard drives and surplus cabling, they seek a remedy for their mounting tech clutter – objects that hold valuable data yet occupy precious space.

“Driven by awareness of confidentiality and environmental concerns, these clients find reassurance in Origin.”

The company said it had processed more than 120,000lb of electronic and IT waste since 2016.