 |
Press Room Links
Recent Documents and Media
 |
SAMR Promo Video (99k)
View |
|
|
|
|
What’s Good for the Environment Is Also Good for Your Company
By Frances Kirschner
There’s an explosion in America, but it’s not “over there.” It’s right here in your state, in your town, in your company. The explosion is the amount of E-waste accumulating everywhere: computers, monitors, printers, keyboards, televisions, cell phones, iPods, DVDs, VCRs, batteries of any kind, and even wires, among others. And as each new wave of the latest electronics hits the market, people are left with the “old,” not always obsolete electronic equipment.
E-waste does not belong in landfills because many of the items contain toxic materials. Computers, including laptops, and other electronic equipment contain toxic heavy metals (lead, mercury, cadmium, among others) and toxic chemicals (brominated flame retardants, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and hexavalent chromium). Most people are not aware that computer monitors and laptops alone contain high levels of lead.
What about companies and businesses that want to be environmentally responsible? As each state is grappling with the amount of E-waste, the importance of a sound electronic disposal policy is rapidly growing. According to reports, an Electronic Waste Recycling Act (AB 3572) was introduced to the New Jersey Legislature, October 2006.
|
|
 |
If this bill is passed, it would require computer manufacturers to pay a $5,000 registration fee each year to the N. J. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to finance a program for the collection and recycling of electronic devices. The bill also would require manufacturers to submit fees based on sales and to develop permanent labeling. The bill was referred to the Assembly Appropriations Committee, January 2007.
New Jersey Senator Robert Singer, District 30, says, “Safeguarding the environment is one of the top priorities facing our country. However, our growing dependence on the electronics that have revolutionized our lifestyles, both in the workplace and at home, has introduced a new environmental challenge: the safe retirement of used and unwanted electronics.”
The Monmouth-Ocean Development Council, Wall, N.J., a regional business advocacy organization that favors initiatives and services focusing on E-waste, is in the process of developing an educational awareness campaign to enlighten the business communities in Monmouth and Ocean counties about the ways in which they can minimize the negative environmental impact of e-waste.
Ben Waldron, executive director of the MODC, says, “Along with the surge in technology products in the business environment, comes the responsibility of businesses to deal with the safe and proper disposal of e-waste without precipitating an adverse impact on our local environment.”
Some e-waste disposal options being used by corporations are not particularly good. Poor choices include storage, which delays but does not eliminate end-of-life costs; and dumping, which creates an environmental liability in addition to violating laws and regulations. The best environmental option is recycling and remarketing, which can also provide data security along with financial and environmental benefits. Other options are donation, storage, and redeployment within a company.
Many companies that would like to dispose of their computer equipment or “assets” are extremely concerned about the security of their data and are unsure of the best policies. The loss of secure information does not have to come from stolen computers; it can come from landfills where old computers are tossed. Most companies are aware that discarded information can still be subject to theft, and that reformatting hard drives before a trip to the town “dump” will not erase sensitive data. Returning equipment at the end of a lease period, expecting the company to completely erase your information, is naïve.
Data security liabilities and privacy risks are the No.1 concern of companies surveyed at the Gartner IT and Software Asset Management Conference 2006. Proper data disposal is not just a good idea; it is legally required for some companies and some types of data under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), and Gramm-Leach-Bliley (GLB) Act, among other state and federal laws.
Care must be taken not only to wipe the currently occupied areas of the disk, but also to wipe the “blank” areas, which often contain remnants of deleted or duplicated files. It is also essential to wipe the Windows swap file area where data normally stored in memory can be found. The best wiping or erasure options require time and a method for physically destroying drives when the wiping procedure fails. A military-grade wipe that securely sanitizes hard drives while preserving remarketing options is essential.
Redeployment or the relocation of older computers within a company is an option for some companies when its hardware requirements are less intense. If the computer is kept within the company itself, the data security liability is reduced.
Another option is remarketing to domestic and international markets that are seeking used and refurbished computers. Remarketing does yield return value on the assets, and reuse is the optimal environmental practice; however, companies still face data security issues before remarketing their equipment. Companies that donate equipment to schools, libraries, charities, and other not-for-profit institutions also must address the data security liabilities.
In a 2006 Gartner, Inc. survey, companies admitted to storing 17 percent of their computers at end-of-life as an option. This defers but does not eliminate the liabilities associated with disposal. Storage wastes the remarketing value of the asset. Companies often make the mistake of storing end-of-life computers when they have not chosen an end-of-life policy or found an appropriate end-of-life service provider.
An IDC* study found that companies typically store computers for 36 months, incurring soft storage costs of $10 a month, before paying over $200 to get rid of the now obsolete computers. IDC estimated that companies waste over $250 of remarketing value per computer. Storing computers converts systems with 25 percent or more of their initial value to pure liabilities. The cost of the lost remarketing value alone of one year of storage can be half of the residual value or more.
Brianne Douglas, director of asset management at SAMR (Supreme Asset Management & Recovery), an electronic asset disposition company in Lakewood, N.J., says, “We recycle equipment back into the market whenever we can. That is actually on the EPA’s list as the No. 1 way of keeping electronic equipment out of the landfill—remarket it.”
Recycling is a viable environmental option. Specialized computer recyclers who have environmental engineering experience can break down computers into components, and those components into raw materials for reuse. This is the environmentally responsible alternative to dumping obsolete and nonfunctioning equipment.
It is important to audit a recycling service regularly to ensure that proper data security policies are in place and that the responsibility for recycling has not been passed on to someone who will dump the computers. Developing countries are not prepared to separate and handle materials safely, and e-waste sent to less developed countries will not be recycled responsibly. Environmental groups have suggested that sending computers to less developed countries for improper recycling may be even worse for the environment than illegal dumping.
Failure to choose a responsible recycling partner leads to legal liability. According to the U.S. EPA, “Large generators of used electronics, such as businesses whose employees use computers … could potentially have a waste problem on their hands in the event that their e-waste is not appropriately handled and recycled or disposed of. … [They] have to be aware of their liability . . .”
In summary, you can protect the environment and your company in several ways. Use a military-grade wipe to sanitize all hard drives. Avoid formatting. Verify service providers’ data destruction policies. Recapture value by remarketing. Avoid wasting remarketing value through end-of-life storage. Your No. 1 consideration, however, should be to chose a qualified, licensed American IT asset management company to avoid illegal dumping, sham recycling, and to ensure the protection of sensitive data.
|
|
|