As your business grows and you generate a larger and larger product stream, what happens to the products that are floating around on the market—products that may be outdated, broken or even up for a recall? From safety hazards to damaging your reputation, there are times that require a company to completely destruct a product to protect both their interests and consumers’. This process is called product destruction.
What is product destruction?
It may seem like the obvious choice, to take outdated merchandise or defective products to your local recycler or landfill. After all, you’re getting rid of the product and doing the sensible thing – recycling. However, a regular recycler or a local landfill does not do much to protect your business and your brand.
Product destruction is a certified process; not everyone can do it. Product destruction is a process that ensures your products are 100 percent destroyed. It gives you the peace of mind that your products are not being used unsafely, illegally or resold. It’s the smart choice when you consider what could happen to your brand reputation if your products or confidential business information end up in the wrong person’s hands.
Why companies rely on product destruction
Companies count on product destruction for a myriad of reasons. Following are the most popular:
- Brand protection: Consider the impact on your brand when low-quality products—ones you would never be proud to sell—wind up back on the market, the grey market. This means your product is being moved through used product ads, discount retailers, and street sellers, but it’s not up to par. Consumers don’t care about your backend product approval process; all they know is that they’re using something, from your company, and it’s not of a great standard. Unfortunately, they’ll remember the experience and associate it with your brand for a long time. Product destruction, in this case, could target literally any item with a brand name—cars, clothing, even outdated product packaging.
- Limit your liability: Consider what happens to your customer experience if they are using defective or unsafe products. These products may not even meet regulatory guidelines, yet they are in use. Not only does this harm your brand, it opens your business up to an enormous liability risk.
- Proprietary information: The idea of cyber-theft and protecting confidential data is often discussed at the technical level. But what about when data and confidential business information are held on items like CDs, thumb drives, old computers, and phones? Proprietary information could even include a secret product prototype. These items need to be properly destroyed and disposed of.
- Compliance: Many products require special handling, like chemicals and toxic substances, even pharmaceuticals. Proper disposal of these materials is complex and critical to protecting the environment. In this instance, it’s not just about a company’s reputation and peace of mind, it’s also about adhering to local and federal laws.
Recycle1 can help.
Recycle1 offers certified product destruction services to help you protect your product brand. We use a combination of machine and manual processes are used to disassemble, break down, shred, or crush the products, which are then reused, recycled or disposed of in a safe, secure and environmentally manner. We can take any materials—plastics, metals, wood or textiles. Learn more and request a quote today.
