Our process
Chain of custody,
from dock to certificate.
USACA Group began in data center services, secure data destruction and responsible electronics recycling. Our warehouses operate industrial shredders and crushing equipment so drives, SSDs and media are destroyed on site, with every asset scanned, every movement logged, every destruction evidenced and certified.
Unbroken chain of custody
Every asset is traceable from your loading dock to its final disposition, with a signed record at each handover.
Serial-level accountability
Reporting is per serial number, not per pallet — the level of detail auditors and regulators actually ask for.
Audit-ready documentation
Certificates, destruction logs and reconciliation reports are issued as one package you can hand to compliance.
Nine controlled stages
Transport. Register. Sort. Archive. Destroy. Certify.
Each stage produces a record. Together those records form the audit trail we hand to your compliance, security and ESG teams at project close.
- 01
Project scoping & chain-of-custody setup
We agree the asset scope, service level, data-security requirement and documentation package before anything moves. A chain-of-custody record is opened for the project, and every subsequent step writes to it.
- Asset list, site conditions and access reviewed
- Data-bearing vs. non-data-bearing assets classified
- Destruction method and evidence requirements confirmed
- Named project contacts and escalation path issued
- 02
Secure transportation & collection
Assets are packed, sealed, manifested and collected by vetted transport. Loads are numbered and sealed at origin so any interference is visible on arrival.
- Palletising, containment and tamper-evident sealing on site
- Signed manifest handover at pickup and at receipt
- GPS-tracked, dedicated transport for high-sensitivity loads
- Optional client witness or escorted transport
- 03
Scanning & registration
On intake, each asset is individually scanned and registered against the project record — serial number, asset tag, make, model, configuration and condition — creating the auditable inventory that the rest of the process is measured against.
- Serial / asset-tag capture with barcode scanning
- Make, model, configuration and drive count recorded
- Reconciliation against the client's own asset register
- Discrepancy report issued where records do not match
- 04
Sorting & triage
Registered assets are sorted by disposition path: reuse and remarketing, component harvest, or material recycling. Data-bearing media is separated into controlled handling from the moment it is identified.
- Reuse / resale, harvest and recycle streams separated
- Data-bearing media routed to the secure area
- Functional testing and grading where remarketing applies
- Material streams segregated for downstream processing
- 05
Secure archiving & controlled storage
Assets awaiting processing are held in access-controlled storage with recorded custody. Nothing sits unrecorded, and nothing leaves storage without a logged movement.
- Access-controlled, monitored storage areas
- Logged movements in and out of secure storage
- Segregation by client and by project
- Defined maximum dwell time before processing
- 06
Data destruction & shredding
Our warehouses operate industrial shredders and crushing equipment for physical destruction of hard drives, SSDs, tapes and other media. We also perform software erasure and degaussing where specified, with each drive verified against its serial number.
- Industrial shredders and crushers at our processing facilities
- Software erasure with per-drive verification reporting
- Degaussing for magnetic media where specified
- Failed-erasure drives escalated straight to physical destruction
- 07
Destruction evidence & retention
Destruction is evidenced, not asserted. Serialized results, operator records and — where requested — photo or video capture are retained with the project file so the event can be reconstructed during an audit years later.
- Serial-level destruction log per drive or device
- Photo / video evidence and witnessed destruction on request
- Operator, date, time, method and equipment recorded
- Records retained to your policy and available on request
- 08
Certificates of destruction & shredding
On completion we issue the formal documentation package: a Certificate of Data Destruction and, where physical shredding was performed, a Certificate of Shredding, each referencing the serialized inventory.
- Certificate of Data Destruction (serialized appendix)
- Certificate of Shredding for physically destroyed media
- Certificate of Recycling for material streams
- Settlement / value-recovery statement where applicable
- 09
Responsible downstream recycling
Remaining material is routed to vetted downstream processors for recovery. Nothing is landfilled where a compliant recovery path exists, and downstream partners are re-qualified on an ongoing basis.
- Metals, plastics and board streams recovered
- EV lithium battery and solar panel streams handled separately
- Vetted, audited downstream processors only
- Environmental reporting on diverted volumes
Documentation package
What you receive at close.
One package, issued together, referencing the same serialized inventory — so your records reconcile without follow-up requests.
- Serialized asset inventory and reconciliation report
- Certificate of Data Destruction
- Certificate of Shredding (physical destruction)
- Certificate of Recycling / responsible disposition
- Destruction evidence log (and media, where requested)
- Environmental and value-recovery summary
Start a project
Send us your asset list — we will return a scoped plan.
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Tell us what you need and we will connect you with the right USACA Group team — recovery, semiconductor, hardware or global supply chain.