WEEE (Computer) recycling toolkit

Although the Green IT agenda seems to have left global centre stage for the time being (economic downturn etc), this initiative looks to have fallen foul of lack of awareness. I'm talking about something called the Greening Government ICT Strategy, developed by the UK Government Green ICT Delivery Unit of the Chief Information Officer (CIO) Council.

As an IT recycling company, we were aware of this initiative, even though, as stated on Butlergroup's opinion wire (16 July 2009), many public sector IT managers remained unaware of the strategy. Quote:" In a report produced by Global Action Plan and commissioned by Cisco, the research identified that 60% of public sector IT managers were unaware of the Government’s greening ICT strategy, with 41% of national government respondents ignorant of the strategy even though it encompasses their area of responsibility. " Could an economic recovery result in the resurgance of the green -it agenda among the UK's Local authority IT managers? We hope so, it's something that needs addressing.

They tout themselves as being Computer recyclers and WEEE recycling businesses, but a number of operations within the UK's recycling industry look to involve organised crime. A number of raids carried out by the Environment Agency over the past months have highlighted the illegal trade in hazardous electronic and computer waste, with the majority of non-working, totally obsolete equipment being destined for Africa. Some 500 container loads were seized on 2 sites located around London. As stated in the Guardian, "Our investigations have found that the majority of this equipment is beyond repair and is being stripped down under appalling conditions in Africa. But the law is clear - electrical waste must be recycled in the UK, not sent to developing countries in Africa where unsafe dismantling puts human health and the environment at risk," said the Environment Agency's national enforcement service project manager, Chris Smith. "The Environment Agency has created a national team to stamp out this illegal trade and strong intelligence work has resulted in today's operation - the most significant action to date in investigating suspected electrical waste being shipped to Africa.

The trade, which to date has been underpinned by The illegal trans-continental shipping of hazardous electrical and electronics waste may be coming to an end in the UK. Evidence of the size of the this trade has finally hit the headlines as a direct result of these raids. In effect, the export of end-of-life waste computer equipment offers a quick, lucrative solution for many of the smaller IT recycling companies operating in the UK. However, it leaves businesses and householders open to fraud through the "data mining" of hardware. In effect, if this industry is to tidy itself up, it'll be at the expense of the businesses wanting to recycle their old equipment. The use of "free" computer recycling companies is not an option any more. Paying to have your waste recycled is the only way you can objectively ensure that it will be properly recycled and that your data will be effectively erradicated.

We've been using Prodigy Networks as out ISP for over 4 years at both business locations, but last week, BT pulled the plug on the service. Or, to be more precise, BT wholesale pulled the plug on the ISP.

In a way, I'm not overly supprised. The service provider has been struggling for a while now, with stiff competition from BT retail and other ISPs, putting them under increasing pressure.

The thing is, ISPs are in effect being squeezed from all sides and it wasn't a real supprise when Prodigy Networks opted to provide their service to businesses only a couple of years ago. Home broadband packages are now so competitive, that the only real winner on the financial front is BT wholesale, who, having the rights to the infrastructure, can charge independant ISPs a whacking fee per month to maintain their connection.

However, BT's business packages remain competitive and have in effect squeezed many of the independant ISPs who rely upon ofcom's unbundling of the existing networks to ply their trade.

So what happened to prodigy? The last time I spoke to the Managing Director- some 6 months ago, I was informed that they had some 6000 business customers. However, underlying issues relating to customer support left some out in the cold, and the ability to switch meant that they could leave ther old ISP behind. Simiarly, the cost of packages offered by Prodigy Networks left them lagging behind the competition, as did the monthly bandwidth allowances, which hadn't moved with the times.

The main issue for many customers of Prodigy Networks though, is that of finding a new ISP. BT wholesale has done what can only be described as a dirty on customers of Prodigy Networks. Pulling the plug on the ISP has left a volume of business customers without internet access. With many businesses reliant upon the internet and emails, I have to wonder how many have been, like us, left out in the cold until they can join another ISP- all during a recession, when many small businesses are already struggling. One has to wonder whether BT wholesale would pull the plug on BT retail if a similar situation where to arise.

Richard A Johnson
IT-Green

It's been the bane of my existance since the inception of the WEEE directive in the UK and the Environment Agency continue to fight an uphill battle in trying to prevent it. We're all aware by now of the issue with e-waste export, but what many Companies, schools, charities and even local authorities throwing out their obsolete computers don't realise is that they need to carry out due dilligence as part of the recycling process.

We're not talking about simply checking with companies house though. The Environment Agency issues recycling companies with licenses for the recycling of any form of waste. As many professional certified waste managers will tell you, the law states that when you throw anything out, it is deemed WASTE and as such may only be treated by persons licensed to do so. This similarly applies to computers, particularly business computers, which usually fall outside of producer compliance schemes.

However, even in bleak financial times, numerous traders still see fit to try to operate without relevant licenses. I kid you not, we've been in talks with a very large district council who fell victim of fraud through the use of an unlicensed recycling company. Here's how we found out: The company, which is listed in the top 20 of google UK for key search term: Computer Recycling was used to recycle a local authority's computers. In trying to find out what had happened to said computers, they carried out a check on the Waste carrier's license shown on the website, only to find out it belongs to us. We carried out our own due dilligence, on the grounds that the Environment Agency deems this an Environmental Incident (criminal offence) and behold! the EA confirms said company is not registered as a waste carrier. The company further claims to have numerous, very high profile companies, and having rung many of them, discover that many never used this company's services.

This however, is the tip of the iceberg and chances are hundreds of Companies are falling foul of unlicensed computer recycling companies. However, why should this matter to you? A week ago, the beeb highlighted the export of weee deemed beyond re-use that has ended up in Nigeria. Environment Agency insepectors are currently out there investigating. If the e-waste is recycled by a legitimate company, 9 times out of 10, it'll be properly treated and if some is exported, responsibility falls on the licensed recycler, simply because they're licensed to treat it and bound by licensing agreement with the Environment Agency.

However, if the recycler is unlicensed and the weee is exported, it remains the original holder's responsibility (called duty of care). Asset tags, computer data and screen burn could all lead back to the producer. Prosecution could quite easily ensue. Somewhat embarrasing for the Company trying to recycle their old IT.

Again, this is not the whole issue. Recyclers exporting IT (in a psuedo legitimate manner) are not complying with UK law and could leave you open to Brand damage. Any IT that is being recycled is deemed waste under EU law. The export of this waste to developing countries, even when under the guise of charity donations for use in Schools, has a hideous underlying issue. WEEE is waste, no matter what state it's in. Some companies trade in supposed working equipment, destined for foreign shores, whilst the equipment is actually too obsolete to use or too damaged to be used. Others send out working equipment as charitable donations, but this equipment is leaving our shores in such large quantities, that much of it will never get used or, once obsolete, won't be treated properly or in a safe manner. Here's details about Ghana's e-waste issue: As if that wasn't enough, there's been UK computer waste in China, Pakistan, India and now Nigeria. The next destination: Vietnam- we got our first email about buying waste/ scrap today.

Well, we did it. It's been a 3 months slog, but we finally got ATF registration through this week... at a cost of £3500 and many man hours of work. In effect, we went through the hoops of changing planning permission for the site and, once that was completed, the application for Authorised treatment facility was signed off. So what does this mean when dealing with e-waste in the UK? Well, in effect we can treat just about anything electrical or electronic in house, breaking it down for resource extraction- effectively, exactly what we've always tried very hard to achieve here- this just makes it legal.

So where now? Well, there's certain stipulations in the license. we need to provide training and have competent people on site. This means me and Kevin achieving NVQ level 4's in Waste management within 12 months and then obtaining WAMITAB approval... In additional, we're going to go for AATF status over the next 4 weeks- just in time for Jan 09 and the start of the new Producer Compliance register. The aim? To ensure a steady stream of waste electronics, computers and technological equipment from manufacturers, suppliers and producers.