Most conversations about electronic waste start with laptops, phones, and monitors. Networking equipment rarely gets mentioned, even though it sits in nearly every office, data closet, and equipment rack in the state. Switches, routers, firewalls, and wireless access points quietly keep a business connected for years, then quietly pile up in a storage room once they're replaced. That pile represents both an environmental problem and a source of real recyclable value, and most businesses have no idea what to do with it.
The world's electronic waste problem is bigger than most people realize. A record 62 million tons of electronic waste was generated globally in 2022, and that figure is projected to climb to 82 million tons by 2030 (ITU & UNITAR, 2024). Less than a quarter of that material was documented as properly collected and recycled, leaving an estimated $62 billion in recoverable resources unaccounted for (ITU & UNITAR, 2024). Networking equipment is a meaningful part of that stream, and it tends to get overlooked because it doesn't look like traditional consumer electronics.
What Networking Equipment Actually Does
Before getting into recycling, it helps to know what these devices are actually for.
Routers connect networks to each other. In a business setting, a router is typically the device that connects an internal network to the internet, directing traffic in and out and making decisions about the most efficient path for data to travel.
Switches connect devices within a network. A switch is what lets every computer, printer, phone, and server in an office talk to each other and share a connection, directing data to the correct destination inside the building rather than out to the internet (Brightline IT, 2024).
Firewalls protect the network. They sit between a business and the outside world, filtering traffic and blocking threats before they ever reach a server or workstation (Brightline IT, 2024).
Wireless access points extend the network. They take a wired connection and broadcast it as WiFi, letting laptops, tablets, and phones connect without a cable.
Put these pieces together and you get the infrastructure that every modern business runs on. None of it is optional. A business without a functioning switch or router simply is not online, and a business without a firewall is exposed the moment it is.
The Businesses That Depend On It Most
Some organizations lean on networking equipment more heavily than others, and they tend to be the ones generating the most of it as electronic waste.
Healthcare providers run large, secure networks to move patient records, imaging, and monitoring data between departments, often across multiple buildings and floors. Every one of those connections runs through a switch or a router, and healthcare IT departments tend to refresh that equipment on a strict schedule to stay ahead of compliance requirements.
Data centers and cloud providers operate networking equipment at a scale most businesses never see, with racks of switches and routers moving enormous volumes of traffic around the clock. When a data center upgrades, it isn't replacing one router. It's often retiring an entire rack at once.
Schools and universities maintain networks across dozens of buildings, connecting classrooms, labs, dorms, and administrative offices, all while working through equipment on a fairly predictable replacement cycle tied to budget years and grant funding.
Financial institutions and government offices operate under strict security and compliance requirements that push them toward frequent hardware refreshes, since outdated networking equipment can become a direct compliance liability rather than just an inconvenience.
Retail chains, hotels, and other multi location businesses need reliable networking gear at every single site, from point of sale systems processing transactions to guest WiFi covering an entire building.
Even a modest regional business with a single office often has more networking equipment than employees realize, tucked into a closet or a rack that nobody thinks about until it breaks, slows down, or gets swapped out during an upgrade.
Why Expensive Equipment Goes Outdated So Fast
It's a strange feature of networking equipment: the fancier and more expensive the device, the faster it tends to become functionally obsolete. A high end enterprise switch or a data center router can cost thousands of dollars, and it can still be effectively outdated within a handful of years.
On average, switches last about five to seven years, WiFi routers closer to three to four years, and firewalls somewhere between five and eight years before businesses start looking to replace them (Brightline IT, 2024). Those numbers are general estimates, and equipment often keeps physically working well past that point. The real driver of replacement usually isn't failure. It's everything else.
Manufacturers eventually stop supporting older hardware, cutting off firmware updates and security patches for good. Bandwidth and performance requirements keep climbing too. A switch built for older network speeds simply can't keep pace once a business moves to higher throughput demands, and an access point built for an older WiFi standard can't deliver the speed or capacity that current devices expect. Security requirements shift quickly as well. A firewall that can't handle current encryption standards, or a switch that no longer receives patches, becomes a liability rather than an asset, regardless of how well it still functions mechanically (Brightline IT, 2024).
That combination, expensive hardware paired with a genuinely short useful life, is exactly what fuels the growing stream of networking equipment that needs to be recycled every year.
The Recyclable Value Hiding Inside Every Switch And Router
Here's the part most people don't expect: networking equipment is often more valuable to recycle, pound for pound, than a typical laptop or desktop.
Switches and routers are dense with circuit boards, and circuit boards are where the real value sits. A metric ton of circuit board material can contain far more gold than a metric ton of mined gold ore, along with meaningful amounts of copper, silver, and other recoverable metals (Bleiwas & Kelly, 2001). Networking equipment tends to pack a higher concentration of these boards relative to its overall size compared to something like a laptop, which is mostly battery, screen, and plastic housing.
Recyclers that process networking equipment typically recover nonferrous metals, aluminum, copper, circuit boards, and networking cards, along with the plastics and casings surrounding them (ERI, n.d.). None of this is a niche concern. The global market for recovering precious metals from electronic waste was valued at $5.92 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach $8.75 billion by 2030, driven largely by demand for the gold, silver, palladium, and platinum locked inside devices like these (Grand View Research, 2024).
In practical terms, that means the switch sitting unused in a server closet isn't just taking up space. It's a small deposit of recoverable material that a proper recycler can put back into circulation instead of a landfill, and at the scale a business upgrade cycle produces, a rack full of retired switches represents a genuinely meaningful amount of recoverable metal.
Don't Forget What's Stored On It
Networking equipment holds more than metal. Routers, switches, and firewalls often retain configuration files, admin credentials, VPN settings, and network maps in their onboard storage, even after a factory reset. For a business, that information can be just as sensitive as anything stored on a hard drive. Be sure to save any valuable information from devices you decide to recycle.
See If You Qualify For A Free Pickup
Zap Recycling picks up networking equipment right alongside desktops, laptops, and servers, and businesses across Salt Lake County, Utah County, Davis County, and Weber County most likely qualify for a free pickup. If you're outside that core area, including businesses in Cache County, Washington County, and other surrounding regions, reach out anyway. We work with organizations well beyond the Wasatch Front and will let you know if we can make it work.
Whether it's a single old router or a full rack pulled from a server room upgrade, schedule a pickup at zaprecycling.com and let us handle the rest, responsibly and securely.
References
Bleiwas, D. L., & Kelly, T. D. (2001, July). Obsolete computers, "gold mine," or high tech trash? Resource recovery from recycling (USGS Fact Sheet FS 060 01). U.S. Geological Survey. https://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs060-01/fs060-01.pdf
Brightline IT. (2024, January 25). Navigating the lifecycle of network hardware: When to upgrade switches, WiFi, and firewalls. https://brightlineit.com/navigating-the-lifecycle-of-network-hardware-when-to-upgrade-switches-wifi-and-firewalls/
ERI. (n.d.). Network equipment, servers and telecom equipment recycling. https://eridirect.com/sustainability/products-we-recycle/network-equipment/
Grand View Research. (2024, March). Precious metals electronic waste recovery market to reach $8.75 billion by 2030. https://www.grandviewresearch.com/press-release/global-precious-metals-e-waste-recovery-market
ITU & UNITAR. (2024, March 20). The global electronic waste monitor 2024: Electronic waste rising five times faster than documented electronic waste recycling. https://ewastemonitor.info/the-global-e-waste-monitor-2024/