Westminster businesses
Westminster businesses
Westminster businesses
The Green IT expo, held in London, the City of Westminster, close to the Houses of Parliament, was a great success. Held on the 9th November 2010, it showcased products and services from IT businesses in the UK. The auspicious location was the Queen Elizabeth II Conference centre and included such market leaders as IBM, LG, EIZO and The Chartered institute of IT.
The aim of the event was to highlight the need for lower powered, more efficient IT, with emphasis upon recyclability at end of life. The target audience were those most likely to benefit from such a solution ie Business, where each company employs hundreds of computers in it's operations. Of interest were the number of businesses and sectors represented at the meeting. Similarly, the number of issues highlighted and solutions/ scenarios offered by developers were diverse, but all had one aim in mind- the reduction in overheads assoicated with the running of computer systems.
However, my thoughts are drawn more to the recycling of these computers towards the end of their lives and reflecting upon the number of delegates at the conference, coupled with their ability to converge on Westminster, it certainly brought into focus the possibiities associated with servicing such a large sector. However, London's borough of Westminster is a logistical nightmare and this is certainly reflected in the businesses that reside at it's heart. Removing and recycling their old computers would certainly be an adventure.
I digress. Of the businesses present, a number of recyclers, who like us, offer large scale computer recycling to UK businesses were present. A key issue discussed was the development of new business in the current climate. A key issue associated with this was the proverbial "white van man" who is able to set up shop as a computer recycler with little or no concern for legal compliance. The Environment Agency remain aloof on such issues, with no real powers to police such activities and as such, large scale export of the waste, with little concern for a client's Brand image, let alone confidentiality is going on. The result is continual data leaks from UK businesses, with potential serious breaches of the Data Protection Act going unnoticed. Data mining and theft remain a serious issue, but given the location of such activities (Ghana, Ivory Coast et al) cannot be policed.
Key governance issues among businesses remain an issue, with many unaware of the requirement for a CSR policy. Businesses need to realise that there is a need to combine waste management with data protection. Both should be seen to go hand in hand as a source of waste may inadvertantly produce a breach in the Data Protection Act. Similarly, brand damage may occur as a direct result of export outside the European Union. The Basel convention sets strict guidelines when it comes to the transfrontier movement of hazardous wastes and similarly sets scientifically based guidelines classifying hazardous wastes, which include computer monitors, laptops, batteries, universal power supplies and most goods that can't be fixed. Inadvertantly, some 50 million tonnes of waste electronics are exported every year from the west and the result is an influx of lead bearing components, that are simply burned in the open to recover the copper. Analysis of studies carried out by Greenpeace, the BBC and African news networks implies that more lead is dumped on developing countries every year in the form of waste electronics than is produced globally through manufacturing processes. As a result, some 160 people, including children have been thought to have died as a direct result of Lead poisoning. That's 6 million tonnes of Lead leaching into groundwater throughout developing nations. Areas subjected to burning of WEEE will be useless for farming, let alone living on for generations to come. Ignorance about such heavy metals means that more are likely to die before this issue hits the mainstream media.
Of course, the Basel Action network continues to take suitable action, publishing lists of Companies who's asset labels have been found among the piles of waste. These lables contain many household UK brand names, as well as large US corporate names that are known the world over.
With the Environment Agency attempting to tackle this issue and highlighting it in 2009 through the siezure of 6 container loads of WEEE in London, destined for developing countires, it's about time business started to realise that they either pay a small fee for a professional recycling service or gamble their business in the long term, through potential brand damage in return for short term gains.
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