This can be when a business is expanding and needs to replace their older computer
equipment, plus buy in extra IT equipment to meet their growing needs.
A business may be downsizing and wants to run on a more lean system with minimal
equipment, so will have a surplus of IT equipment to dispose of.
It is sad to say, but many companies go out of business each year, and when winding
down their operation they need to safely dispose of their IT assets.
For any business with a stock of computer equipment, when it's no longer needed it cannot simply be thrown out with the rubbish. Under current Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment recycling (WEEE) guidelines, the recycling of your WEEE assets is
an important part of your compliance duties.
What is WEEE?
The implementation of the original WEEE Directive in the UK by the WEEE Regulations
act 2006, saw UK business owners issued with a new set of regulations to follow
with regard to the safe disposal of their IT assets.
The WEEE directive became law in the UK on the 1st of January 2014 and replaced the
earlier 2006 version of the regulations. The newer regulations were again amended to cover a wider range of electronic products now more commonly in use in the UK and came into effect in January 2019.
The regulations were drawn up to address the estimated 2 million tonnes of WEEE
products that are thrown away by consumers and businesses each year in the UK.
To save confusion about what electronic products fall into the WEEE category,
most products that are supplied with a plug or run from a battery are classed
as WEEE products.
However, if you want to go into greater detail there are ten broad categories of WEEE
currently covered by the regulations, and these regulations may be subject to
change over time as more electrical assets are created and used, as already
seen in previous updates.
For business owners, they need to adhere to WEEE regulations when they want to get
rid of their IT assets and telecommunications equipment, including desktop and
laptop computers, tablets, scanners, printers and photocopying equipment,
telephones and pocket calculators.
There may be other equipment used in your business that is also covered by WEEE
regulations, such as televisions, radio equipment, video cameras and lighting
equipment such as fluorescent tubes.
For manufacturing businesses, this will also apply to tools and machinery used in
your processes, such as electric drills, saws, sewing machines etc. as well as
other service machines such as hot drink dispensers, fridges and freezers.
With very large volumes of IT equipment disposed of each year by businesses, it is
what these items contain that causes concern. For example, IT equipment
contains a wide variety of material, such as glass, metal, plastics, ceramics
and precious metals.
As some of these mixed materials are hazardous to health, such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury and certain flame retardants, the WEEE regulations were set up
to make sure that all WEEE equipment is carefully recycled to reduce the risk
to health and the environment.
performing your own businesses IT recycling isn't advised. There are a number of health
risks involved with WEEE recycling, so attempting to break down your own
business IT assets by hand could expose you to toxic substances that can be
released during the operation.
It cannot be overstressed that you need to protect yourself or your staff from exposure to lead and mercury or other hazardous materials, and this is why it makes sense to put your business IT recycling into the safe
hands of a WEEE specialist company, such as ICT RECYCLE
We specialise in end of life IT disposal and will be able to deal with your
redundant IT assets in the safest possible manner in complete compliance with
current WEEE guidelines.
A lot
of business IT assets will have hard drives that contain very sensitive company
data. We would recommend our data shredding service for the complete
destruction of your computer hard drives and data-carrying IT assets.
By
destroying your computer hard drives and data storage devices you will be
preventing any personal or business data being lifted from your hard drive
after disposal. Having Restore handle the safe disposal of your hard-drives
will prove your chain of custody and will help you to meet with your compliance
with the current Data Protection Act.
You will be issued with a certificate of destruction that details the exact time,
date, location and the name of the supervising officer overseeing the destruction. This can be used as proof of your compliance in the event of a business audit.
We can offer you our ICT Recycling essential service or our IT recycling blue box
service as detailed below: