UPS & Battery Backup System Recycling and Retirement
Certified retirement of UPS units, power distribution units (PDUs), and VRLA or lithium-ion battery strings for data centers and facilities nationwide — built for facility managers and decommissioning contractors coordinating a project, not a single battery drop-off.
- Whole-System UPS & PDU Retirement
- Serial-Level Records & Certificate of Destruction
- Free pickup for qualifying business volumes
Whole-system UPS retirement, staged and documented
STS Electronic Recycling handles the retirement of UPS units, PDUs, and VRLA or lithium-ion battery strings for data center and colocation facility teams nationwide. Once your team or electrical contractor has a system de-energized and staged for removal, our crews handle collection, transport, and certified processing, whether that is a single-rack UPS swap or a full power-infrastructure decommissioning project.
Get a Retirement Quote
UPS units to battery strings, one engagement, one report
A UPS retirement project touches physical removal, battery handling, and documentation. STS covers all three once the system is ready to move.
System Removal
Collection once staged and de-energized
Battery Processing
VRLA & lithium-ion strings
Documentation
Serialized reporting & COD
UPS, PDU & Rack-Level System Removal
Once your facility or electrical contractor has a UPS, PDU, or backup power system de-energized and staged, STS crews handle pickup and transport to one of our processing facilities. This work frequently runs alongside broader server and rack decommissioning, so a single scheduling conversation can cover both the power infrastructure and the compute equipment coming out with it.
Projects range from a single-unit UPS swap to a full data hall power retirement. Our 250,000 sq ft processing facility in Jacksonville, Texas is built for enterprise volume, not just single-item drop-off.
Single Units to Full Rooms
Scales from one UPS to a complete electrical room or data hall retirement
Coordinated With Server Refresh
Scheduled alongside rack and server equipment coming out at the same time
Serialized Intake
Each unit logged before it moves, matched to your asset register
Certified Processing
Routed to our R2v3 certified facilities for material recovery
VRLA & Lithium-Ion Battery Processing
UPS and backup power battery strings, whether valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) or lithium-ion, are routed through our battery recycling program for certified material recovery once the strings arrive at one of our facilities. This page covers the project-level retirement of the UPS system as a whole; the battery recycling page is the destination for the batteries themselves.
Sanitization aligned to NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2 is applied to any networked management or monitoring cards that ship with the UPS, consistent with our standard data destruction practice for equipment with embedded storage.
VRLA String Handling
Lead-acid battery strings processed through certified downstream channels
Lithium-Ion Handling
Lithium-ion UPS batteries processed to applicable safety and material-recovery standards
Management Card Sanitization
Data destruction aligned to NIST SP 800-88 for networked UPS controller cards
R2v3 Certified Recovery
Material recovery through our R2v3 certified processing facilities
Serialized Records & Certificate of Destruction
Every unit is logged before it moves and matched to your asset register. On completion, STS issues a serialized Certificate of Destruction recording the sanitization method used, plus weight tickets and chain-of-custody documentation covering the retirement from pickup through final processing.
This documentation ties back to your broader IT asset disposition (ITAD) program, so a UPS retirement project reconciles cleanly against the same asset tracking your IT and facilities teams already use for server and network equipment.
Certificate of Destruction
Serialized per device, sanitization method recorded, issued on completion
Chain-of-Custody Reporting
Documentation from pickup through final processing
Weight Tickets
Recorded for every load processed
ITAD-Ready Reporting
Formats that reconcile against your existing asset register
Why Facility Teams Choose STS
AI-driven infrastructure refresh cycles are compressing hardware lifespans across data centers. GPU-dense server deployments are now cycling out in as little as 10 to 18 months, per an SK tes news release from May 2026. Power infrastructure typically ages out on a longer cycle than the servers it supports, but every server refresh eventually brings a UPS, PDU, or battery-string retirement decision with it.
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Enterprise-Scale Capacity
Our 250,000 sq ft processing facility in Jacksonville, Texas handles complete UPS and battery-backup system retirement, from single-unit removals to full power-infrastructure decommissioning.
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Comprehensive Compliance
RIOS certified company-wide, with ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001 held through the RIOS-integrated management system, and data sanitization aligned to NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2 for any networked UPS management cards.
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Documented Chain of Custody
Serial-level records track each unit from pickup through processing, with a Certificate of Destruction issued on completion for every engagement.
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Proven Track Record
BBB A+ accredited since 2012 and a three-time Inc. 5000 honoree (2018 No. 3,463; 2020 No. 3,436; 2021 No. 2,367), serving businesses in all 50 states since 2010.
A UPS retirement often means a broader hardware refresh too
Power infrastructure rarely comes out on its own. We process the full range of IT and office equipment retired alongside it.
Computing Equipment
Mobile & Network
Office Equipment
The standards your auditor will ask about by name
Certifications and compliance frameworks covering data security and material recovery for UPS and battery-backup system retirement.
RIOS Certified
RIOS certified company-wide, with ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001 held through the RIOS-integrated management system.
NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2
Federal data sanitization standard applied to networked UPS management cards and any other data-bearing components processed with the system.
R2v3 Certified Processing
Our processing facilities hold R2v3 certification for material recovery and downstream accountability.
Additional credentials: RIOS • BBB A+ • Inc. 5000 Honoree
Request Compliance DocumentationFrom scope to final certificate
STS processes UPS and battery-backup retirements through a four-step workflow, from initial scoping through certified processing and reporting.
Scope the Project
We review unit counts, PDUs, and battery-string types, no site visit required to get started.
Pickup & Transport
Once your team has the system staged and de-energized, we collect and transport it under chain-of-custody documentation.
Processing & Sanitization
Batteries routed to certified material recovery; data sanitization aligned to NIST SP 800-88 applied to any networked management cards.
Documentation & Reporting
Receive a serialized Certificate of Destruction, weight tickets, and chain-of-custody reporting.
What facility managers ask first
Everything you need to know about retiring a UPS or battery-backup system with STS.
What UPS and battery-backup equipment do you accept?
UPS units, power distribution units (PDUs), and VRLA or lithium-ion battery strings, along with any networked management or monitoring cards that ship with the system.
Do you handle the electrical disconnect yourselves?
The system needs to be de-energized and staged for removal by your facility's own team or electrical contractor first. From that point, STS handles collection, transport, and certified processing.
How are VRLA and lithium-ion batteries processed?
Battery strings are routed through our battery recycling program for certified material recovery once they arrive at one of our R2v3 certified facilities. See the "Battery Processing" tab above for detail.
What documentation do we receive?
A serialized Certificate of Destruction recording the sanitization method used, chain-of-custody documentation, and weight tickets for every load processed.
Do you offer free pickup?
Free pickup is available for qualifying business volumes. Ask our team what qualifies for your project when you call or email.
Can you coordinate with a server or rack refresh happening at the same time?
Yes. UPS and PDU retirements are frequently scheduled alongside server and rack equipment coming out at the same time, so both come out under one engagement. See the "System Removal" tab above for detail.
Still Have Questions?
Our team is ready to discuss your UPS or battery-backup retirement project.
Where Your Equipment Is Processed
STS Electronic Recycling, Inc. is headquartered in Jacksonville, Texas, and has served schools, businesses, healthcare systems, and government agencies across all 50 states since 2011.
Equipment collected nationwide is staged locally and transported to one of our two R2v3 certified processing facilities in Jacksonville, Texas and Houston, Texas, where all data destruction and material recovery takes place.
Collection, transport and processing are staffed by STS crews rather than subcontracted to a third-party carrier, which is why the chain of custody holds from your dock to the certificate.
Ready to Retire Your UPS or Battery-Backup System?
Free pickup for qualifying business volumes. Enterprise capacity for full UPS, PDU, and battery-backup system retirement, including VRLA and lithium-ion battery strings.
