Electronics recycling & ITAD: frequently asked questions

It is any electrical or electronic device that has reached the end of its useful life: computers, laptops, servers, monitors, phones, printers, circuit boards, cables, batteries, solar panels and industrial equipment. It contains recoverable materials (metals such as gold, silver, copper and aluminum) but also hazardous substances (lead, mercury, flame retardants), which is why it must not go in regular trash and needs specialized handling.

It depends on who you are. If you are a company, institution or maquiladora, the best option is a licensed handler that issues documentation and manages the volume and compliance: in Tijuana and Baja California, Tianlu provides that service (on-site pickup, data destruction and certificates). If you are an individual, look for your municipal collection centers, e-waste collection drives or your manufacturer’s take-back program. In no case should it go in the regular trash bin.

E-waste cannot be thrown in household trash or public bins: for companies it is illegal and it is environmentally harmful. It must be handed to a licensed point or handler that retires it properly. For companies, that handling includes a waste transport manifest and disposal compliant with NOM-161-SEMARNAT; Tianlu picks up the material at your facility and delivers that documentation for your audit.

Follow this hierarchy: 1) if they still work, reuse or donate them; 2) if they can be fixed, refurbish them; 3) if they are dead, recycle them with a licensed handler to recover their materials. Important: before disposing of any device with storage (computers, drives, phones, servers), erase or destroy the data securely. For companies, all of this is solved with an ITAD (IT asset disposition) service that combines certified data destruction, recycling and documentation.

Three reasons: it pollutes (it releases lead, mercury and other toxins into soil and water), it wastes valuable materials that could be recovered, and —for a company— it breaches environmental regulation (NOM-161-SEMARNAT) and creates a data-leak risk if the equipment stored information.

E-waste yields precious metals (gold, silver, palladium) from circuit boards; base metals (copper, aluminum, steel, tin); glass (from monitors and solar panels); silicon; and certain plastics. Recovering these avoids extracting virgin raw material and reduces CO₂ emissions.

There is no single price: electronic scrap is paid based on the type of material, its recoverable metal content, the volume and the international price of metals (which fluctuates daily). For example, circuit boards and processors are worth far more per kilo than a plastic case or a cabinet. That is why we don’t publish a "list price": we evaluate your lot and give you a transparent quote. Tell us what you have and in what quantity so we can value it.

Valuation is based on recoverable metal content (gold, silver, copper, palladium, aluminum), international metal prices (London Metal Exchange), the type and quantity of components, the condition of the equipment and the total volume of material.

Generally the highest value is in printed circuit boards (PCBs), processors and RAM (for their gold and other precious-metal content), followed by copper (cable, windings) and other non-ferrous metals. Cases, cabinets and plastics are worth much less. Real value always depends on the condition and composition of each lot.

Both. Equipment that still works can be worth more through reuse or resale; damaged or obsolete equipment is recycled to recover its materials. In both cases we give you a valuation and, when it contains data, we guarantee certified destruction before any reuse or recycling.

Tianlu Inc. serves companies, maquiladoras and government institutions exclusively. Our service is designed for corporate volumes, data destruction and B2B regulatory compliance, with a minimum of 20 units per pickup. If you are an individual, we suggest your municipal collection centers or drives.

We buy and recycle corporate IT equipment and industrial electronic components: servers, desktops, laptops, network gear (switches, routers), storage systems, printed circuit boards, copper cable, industrial batteries, processors, RAM, hard drives, UPS units, solar panels and telecom equipment.

Yes — maquiladoras are one of our main client types. We understand their specific binational compliance needs: Mexican regulation (NOM-161-SEMARNAT) and, at the same time, the standards their foreign parent companies require.

The process is: 1) Initial contact and description of materials; 2) On-site evaluation and inventory; 3) Detailed no-obligation quote; 4) Pickup scheduled at your convenience; 5) Transport with chain-of-custody documentation; 6) Settlement as agreed; 7) Delivery of NOM-161-SEMARNAT certificates and documentation.

Pickup is free for qualifying corporate volumes within Tijuana and its metropolitan area. For smaller volumes, we evaluate case by case based on location and material type.

5 to 10 business days depending on volume. On-site evaluation happens within 24–48 hours, the quote within 24 hours of evaluation, and pickup is scheduled around your availability.

Yes, and it is critical. Any device with storage (hard drives, SSDs, servers, laptops, phones, copiers) can retain confidential information even when it looks "erased". Trashing or recycling it without sanitizing is a potential data leak. We handle the erasure or destruction and give you a per-serial-number certificate as evidence.

Yes, per the NIST 800-88 and DoD 5220.22-M international standards. The service includes hard-drive and SSD sanitization, physical destruction when required, individual per-device certificates, process evidence and full traceability. (The specific scope of certification is confirmed directly with our team.)

Secure erasure overwrites the data so the device can be safely reused; physical destruction renders the device completely unusable. The choice depends on whether the equipment will be reused and on the confidentiality your security policy requires.

Through NIST 800-88 sanitization of all storage media (hard drives, SSDs, tapes, USB), certified physical destruction when your security policy requires it, and individual certificates with serial number, method, date and operator.

Companies that generate electronic waste are required to manage it under environmental regulation. NOM-161-SEMARNAT defines the waste subject to a management plan and requires documenting its disposal. Non-compliance exposes you to penalties and to findings in environmental audits and ESG reports. We help you build your management plan and document everything.

It is the Mexican official standard that establishes the waste subject to a management plan and the criteria for its inclusion, exclusion and handling —including waste electrical and electronic equipment (RAEE). In practice, it requires companies to have a management plan and to dispose of their e-waste in a traceable, documented way.

Complete documentation: NOM-161-SEMARNAT final-disposition certificates, NIST 800-88 data-destruction certificates (when applicable), waste transport manifests, a detailed inventory of processed materials and full process traceability —ready to support environmental audits and sustainability (ESG) reporting.

It risks penalties for environmental non-compliance, data-leak exposure if the equipment held information, and findings in audits and ESG reports. Disposing of it properly, with a handler that issues manifests and certificates, turns that risk into evidence of good compliance.

Yes. We recycle end-of-life or damaged photovoltaic solar panels in Tijuana and Baja California, recovering high-purity silicon, aluminum, tempered glass and copper. It is a vertical with little competition in Mexico.

Yes. We recycle industrial batteries from electronic equipment, UPS units, machinery and backup systems, including lithium, lead-acid and nickel batteries, with the safe handling this material type requires.

Yes. We provide bilingual (English/Spanish) service to U.S. companies with nearshoring or maquila operations on the Tijuana–San Diego border, plus clients across Mexico. We document to the level your U.S. corporate office expects.

Yes, and it is the recommended approach. What is generated in Mexico is disposed of in Mexico: we pick up your equipment locally, process it under Mexican regulation and deliver the documentation, without you having to ship the material back to the U.S. or cross customs needlessly.