...the requirement for hazardous waste to be transported under a waste carrier licence. What used to be an open forum for illegitimate waste disposal is now being closed very tightly.
Alongside the Hazardous Waste regulations, the Batteries Directive — expected to be introduced into the UK next year — focuses on the collection, treatment and recycling of batteries. For any organisation using servers, laptops or PDAs, for example, this directive affects them.
But when it comes to dealing with electronic waste and recycling, the risks are not all presented by environmental legislation.
Organisations need to be mindful of the Data Protection Act if any data-bearing equipment is leaving their care — and in-house erasing of data is not a reliable method of destroying sensitive material, as most organisations have no solution for removing data from faulty hard disk drives, short of driving a nail through them.
Unlike a pile of disused computer monitors, data tends to be less tangible as a potential legal threat. But the fines and penalties are as onerous as those associated with environmental offences.
What is an organisation to do?
Firstly, the job role of managing end-of-life electronic equipment needs to be assigned, in order that responsibility does not slip between IT, operations, finance or facilities management.
Then, a professional waste and asset management partner is needed, which will provide the organisation with a thorough understanding of their current liabilities and a strategy for how to deal with them.
As a priority, this strategy should ensure that nobody falls foul of compliance issues. In turn, if there is any value to be harnessed from the redundant assets — in terms of refurbishment and reselling of equipment — the partner company should know how to maximise it.
Finally, if there is no inherent value and it is — essentially — waste, it needs to be disposed of legally and at minimum cost to the organisation.
Traditionally, there has been little or no budgeting for removal of old IT equipment and the many relied on the "white van" taking it away for nothing. As the no-cost option is no longer a legitimate option, organisations need to make provision and implementing a strategy can actually ensure that disposal is not a cost to the business but a valuable return on investment. The real danger is in the opposite approach where failure to act professionally leads an organisation into a minefield of costs, litigation and potentially highly damaging publicity.
There will still be those who, either willingly or through sheer ignorance, will play Russian roulette with asset disposal but the risks of playing this game are only increasing.
Steve Russell, is managing director of BTR UK, an IT asset management company specialising in the safe and secure disposal of end-of-life technology.
