‘Going green’ has become a legal obligation rather than a choice for European companies over the last few years, with a host of directives coming into play. One of the biggest, the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) directive was implemented in the UK over a year ago, following a European ‘rollout’. But to what extent are organisations being compliant?

The directive makes manufacturers, retailers and distributors legally responsible for the cost of collection, treatment and recycling of WEEE. However, certain organisations within the recycling chain are not playing their part and on a global scale, even governmental bodies haven’t been on the ball when it comes to implementation.

Hundreds of discarded items, which under the directive should be dismantled and recycled by specialist companies, are instead being shipped out to countries such as Nigeria, Ghana, Pakistan, India and China for illegal dumping and reselling. Here they are dismantled for their metals and then burnt like ordinary refuge, creating toxic fumes.

The implications of the WEEE directive seemed to have passed unnoticed by the majority of UK businesses. And why not? The legislation states firmly that the onus of disposal rests with suppliers and distributors. However, more organisations are trying to outwardly build an image based on corporate social responsibility, and wouldn’t be happy to find out that unbeknownst to them, their old equipment was being dangerously dumped abroad. Consumers International investigators reported that they visited West African dumpsites where computers from institutions such as Westminster City Council and The World Bank were piled up with computers from numerous global companies in literarily mountains of e-waste.

To be fair, the majority of schemes and recyclers take their role importantly and follow all guidelines, however a minority of ‘cowboys’ are taking advantage of the situation. Many companies believe they have responsibly passed on their old WEEE, however if in the wrong hands, the equipment may end up anywhere on the globe.

“Despite legislation, thousands of computers from businesses in the UK and Europe are still finding their way to landfill, are incinerated or are simply dumped outside the EU in places like West Africa. Not only is this dangerous, it’s also illegal and stories regarding the criminal use of data extracted from end-of-life IT equipment remain rife,” notes Malcolm Watson, general manager of Remploy e-cycle.

So why is this happening? Well it seems that many organisations, including charity Computer Aid International, believes that the government isn’t providing the Environmental Agency with the resources to effectively police the directive.

“Because the government isn’t providing the adequate resources, the Environmental Agency is unable to police e-waste effectively. As a result, those involved in a supply chain that ends in the dumping of e-waste are not being prosecuted and licenses are not being removed from organisations in breach of the WEEE legislation,” says Anja French, director of marketing.

Hopefully in time this will change as organisations such as Computer Aid International and Greenpeace keep highlighting the problem, however IS managers can also play their part in making sure their own equipment is responsibly recycled or destroyed. In addition, they need to improve their asset management.

You see, its not just social responsibility or green credentials companies may be risking. If they don’t keep strong accounts of their equipment and where it has gone, they may also be liable for fines. Endemic poor asset management means this is a burden that will pass directly to the bottom line.

“With upwards of 10 per cent of assets on the register typically no longer in existence and the lack of component level recording of electrical and electronic assets, businesses will struggle to identify original suppliers and provide a full audit trail through to disposal,” explains Karen Conneely, of Real Asset Management (RAM).

“The result will be expensive WEEE compliant disposal, potential fines for failure to provide an audit of asset disposal and attendant negative publicity. WEEE may be touted as a cost for suppliers, but unless organisations can get their asset registers in order, it will also create a significant cost for UK business,” she states.

Policies such as the WEEE directive assume a level of asset management far beyond that achieved by the majority of UK business. Unless supplying a like for like replacement, suppliers will only remove and dispose of equipment they have delivered in the first place. How many UK businesses can accurately identify the location of their WEEE equipment within the organisation let alone confirm when it was purchased and from whom? Yet without such information, just which company do they expect to handle the disposal for free?

“To be frank, the asset registers of the majority of UK businesses are appalling. In most cases, a full physical audit of goods not only reveals that at least 10 per cent of assets recorded on the register no longer exist but only 40 per cent of the assets on the register can typically be easily identified - the rest have been moved and/or upgraded without any record being made,” says Conneely.

“This means that on the average 2000 item asset register, around 200 items have been disposed of but are still recorded as in use. And while this may not matter to the finance team that has already depreciated these assets down to zero so that they have no impact on the balance sheet, it will certainly matter when the organisation is asked to prove the items were disposed of in line with the WEEE directive.”

The penalties for failure to meet the directive are not insignificant. If found guilty of an offence, producers, distributors and operators can be liable to a fine of up to £5000 per offence on summary conviction in the Magistrates Court or an unlimited fine imposed by the Crown Court. Company directors and managers of companies can also be prosecuted, in addition to the company itself, if they consent to, or participate in, the offence, or if their neglect led to the commission of an offence by the company.

If organisations are to avoid the two fold costs of fines and/or expensive WEEE compliant disposal, they now need to create an accurate, detailed asset register and regularly audit their equipment.

“A network audit is required to comply with legislation - benchmarking a network’s assets and ensuring things are on track with regards to efficient upgrades. However, the initial audit is only the first step,” says William TIckner, ceo of Omnix Software. “The ongoing maintenance of assets is just as important as knowing which assets are on the site and is only possible by tracking them constantly.
 
“Without maintenance of assets, issues arise around the efficiency of assets, such as when to decommission (knowing its end-of-life), scrapping, warranty and replacement. The problem around tracking assets on a network is being able to not only view the physical ‘kit’ but also to intelligently view active components and trace what happens to these components in a network upgrade,” he reminds readers.

When it comes down to it, if given the time and the right support, IS directors can do a great deal to enforce WEEE compliance within the workplace.

“Most importantly, they should take full control of retiring equipment away from other areas of the company, allowing them to guarantee WEEE compliance with all areas of disposal,” notes Tim Turquand, consultant at independent consultancy Morse. “By taking control in this way, the IT department can either ensure that its own disposal protocols are WEEE compliant or outsource disposal to a fully compliant third party. This extra control also means that the IT department can identify those machines that can still be used elsewhere, or could be recycled or sold on, cutting down on the amount that needs to be actively disposed of.”

Another goal is to make sure you chose an authorised recycler. The Environment Agency licenses organisations as Approved Authorised Treatment Facilities to handle e-waste, but many fraudulent traders are posing as legitimate re-use and recycling organisations, enticing unwitting UK businesses to use them for disposal of electrical equipment. IS and IT managers should check these credentials are in place when looking to work with any organisation that claims it can effectively and legally handle e-waste.

The key here is to remember that regulations such as the WEEE directive have been put in place for a positive reason – to encourage the re-use and recycling of end-of-life electronic and household products. And, as Jonathan Perry, Take Back compliance manager at Dell says; “Re-use is preferable to recycling and re-use options should always be investigated first.”

“There is no compelling reason to simply discard old IT equipment, which will cost time, money and in the end only shift the old machines elsewhere.  A machine that is past its prime for one company can still be useful in other areas: organisations should look to repurpose or sell on machines and components whenever possible, to reduce waste and also to help recoup some of their cost. There are many organisations that specialise in selling on old IT equipment either to businesses, to charities or privately.  As long as the IT department can remove all sensitive data from its equipment, this should always be considered ahead of simple disposal,” agrees Turquand.

Indeed, charities like Computer Aid and even recyclers themselves try where possible to help people by passing on useable equipment to communities that need them.

In a western economy, where everything is disposable, a three or four year old PC has little resale value. However, in a developing country where a new PC costs the equivalent of the average annual income per person, that same PC has a very high value. These out-of-use PCs and laptops can go on to provide another four years of use by school children, hospitals and communities across the developing world, enriching education, improving employment prospects and enhancing healthcare. The next time you’re faced with compliance paperwork keep that thought in your head. It’ll make those once mundane tasks feel worthwhile and rewarding, and you’ll see beyond the generic business reasons for being compliant…