Print Companies Face Up To e-Waste Recycling
Tuesday 15th August 2006
Print companies are gearing up for a huge new waste disposal and recycling programme involving tens of millions of pounds worth of redundant electronic equipment.
J&G Environmental say more than half of all visits to its web site are now from environmentally concerned print companies enquiring about the ethical disposal of IT and telecommunications waste.
Introduction of the new Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, originally planned for June, was postponed and will now probably be implemented next year. Eventually the directive will demand that the majority of electronic waste, much of it classed as hazardous, is recycled or recovered rather than go to landfill.
"There's tens of millions of pounds worth of this equipment out there just waiting to be recycled," said J&G customer services manager Richard Spreadbury. "Electronic waste, such as used computers, is now one of the world's fastest-growing waste streams. Indeed it's a larger waste stream by weight than used beverage cans yet these have been recycled for years. The huge jump in enquiries about how to deal with it reflects the industry's growing awareness of its environmental responsibilities and the knowledge that strict new regulations are on the way."
Faced with the possibility of a growing electronic waste mountain, J&G have set up a special e-waste handling programme. "This waste needs expert attention," said Spreadbury. "Computer scrap, for instance, contains toxics such as lead, chromium, mercury, phosphorus and PVCs which are hazardous to human health. Dismantling and handling unwanted computers containing these substances is a highly skilled and dangerous operation."
J&G says it has installed the technology at its Blandford site to strip down and recycle most e-waste including computers, circuit boards, photocopiers, fax machines and telecommunications equipment. It believes the best route is reuse, with companies donating unwanted computers to charities, schools and local organisations, but it acknowledges there might be security and confidentiality concerns about data on hard drives.
"We understand this and have data destruction and recovery facilities available," said Spreadbury. "But however a company plans to dispose of its electronic waste in the future, it will eventually have to comply with a raft of legislation if it wants to meet its moral and legal obligations. We advise businesses to start thinking about it right now."
