ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — With new phones and computers coming out all the time, you may have a lot of old electronics collecting dust where you live.

It may be tempting to smash them with a hammer to get it out of your life. However, that creates a mess because they have metals that can be toxic to the environment. Lead, for example, which you definitely don’t want to get into the water or the environment.

So, how do you safely recycle these devices and protect your personal data?

Here in Albuquerque, it is pretty easy. Workers at New Mexico Computer Recyclers disassemble electronics. Some parts get recycled locally, while other components get shipped to California for further recycling.

Data from hard drives, USB drives or mobile devices get completely destroyed in Albuquerque, though. All data, including Social Security numbers, medical history, everything, gets erased with a hard drive shredder.

Wanna see the shredder in action and learn more? Click the video above.