When a comms room is decommissioned, the conversation is usually about disposal cost. It should be about data.
Deleting isn't destroying
A formatted drive is not an empty drive, and a drive pulled from a dead server is not a safe drive. Consumer-grade wiping tools leave recoverable data, and a device that leaves your building intact is a device somebody else can read.
Physical destruction removes the question entirely. It's also faster and cheaper than certified wiping at any meaningful volume.
Chain of custody is the evidence
The certificate matters, but what makes it meaningful is the documented chain from your loading dock to the destruction area. If a contractor can't tell you who had the asset at each point, the certificate is decoration.
For sensitive decommissions, witnessing the destruction yourself is worth the hour it takes. Most clients do it once, satisfy themselves, and never need to again.
Then it's a metal problem
Once the data risk is dealt with, e-waste is valuable material. Circuit boards carry recoverable gold, silver, palladium and copper at concentrations well above natural ore. Recovering it is the responsible outcome and the commercially sensible one.
