Your responsibilities
WEEE obligations
All IT & computer equipment is classed as WEEE waste and must be recycled strictly following Best Available Treatment Recovery and Recycling Techniques (BATRRT) and treatment of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Guidance.
Under the Data Protection Act 1998, any business processing personal data must comply with the enforceable principles of good practice. When disposing of redundant IT equipment, it is vital to delete all personal records. In addition, there may be other sensitive information stored such as access codes, financial details and images.
Certain items requiring disposal are classed as hazardous waste and must be collected, transported and treated in accordance with Control of substances hazardous to health (COSHH). Examples of these items are CRT Monitors and Lead Acid batteries. As a producer of hazardous waste, you must register with the Environment Agency as a producer of this waste if producing more than 500kg per annum.
Your Producer code will be used to complete a Hazardous Waste Transfer Note detailing all Hazardous waste collected. This document will be used by the site that treats the waste to file quarterly returns on your behalf.
GDPR
25 May 2018 marks the day from which the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will apply to every company doing business in the EU, including the UK where it will replace the Data Protection Act 1998.
Further information can be found here.
FREE IT RECYCLING? AT WHAT COST?
Kudos Remarketing offers cost-effective disposal solutions. There are now hundreds of ITAD companies offering Free IT recycling services – specifically in and around London and the South East. So, how do they do it?
Data Security is the foremost requirement for our clients, and secure NCSC approved data deletion has a cost per license (per drive). There are free data eradication tools widely available, and while they will delete data they are not NCSC approved, but what price do you place on data security?
Many who promote a free service recover their costs by refurbishing your assets and selling them on to the developing world.
In Africa and Southeast Asia, there are large markets for refurbished desktops, laptops, smartphones and tablets. A substantial proportion of these come from free IT recycling services worldwide.
Did your current IT recycling service provider offer you any return on your redundant IT equipment? Is the data contained on these devices eradicated with NCSC approved software?
If you have old computers left sitting in storage for some time, then it is unlikely there is any value other than that recoverable from scrap processing, but what about your data? You should always demand a data deletion certificate, and there is still a cost to this. We aim not to let your equipment reach that level of value – i.e. scrap, and by purchasing your equipment earlier in the lifecycle, we hope you can refresh your inventory more frequently and in return stay more efficient.