With the adoption of the WEEE directives by the EU, the
disposal of
redundant IT and computer equipment has become an issue for all businesses
in the UK. However when disposing of old computers care has to be taken with consideration to
the absolute destruction of the data drive in the computer, the Data Protection Act requiring that "Due Care" is
taken to ensure that the process of "computer hard drive destruction" is fully and correctly carried out.
This is to ensure that no personal data is ever obtainable from old computer, studies having shown that at the moment over half of the computers that are
recycled have data on their hard drives, data that could be extracted. This is in contravention of the Data Protection Act and leaves the previous
owners of the machine open to prosecution and fines.
The list of equipment (computer disposal / recycling is only one area) that must be
properly disposed of is quite
extensive and thus, as with many other areas of business, it is best to get
an expert agency to assist and ensure compliance with the WEEE directive and the Data Protection Act.
Using our vast experience, Recycle IT 4U can:-
- Arrange for Computer hard drive destruction
- The absolute destruction of all data
- The Physical Destruction of any hard drive
- Provide Data Drive destruction certificates
- Securely Dispose all Electronic Data on your computers
Details of the "Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment" (WEEE) Directive:-
The Commission of the European Communities proposed a Directive
(in June 2000) on Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE)
that is designed to protect soil, water and air from pollution caused
by management of WEEE, to avoid the generation of waste and to reduce
the harmfulness of WEEE. Further objectives are to preserve resources,
especially energy and to create harmonisation of national measures across
member states.
The main devices which are identified, as potentially dangerous, in electrical
and electronic equipment include printed circuit boards, cables, wires,
plastics containing flame retardants, mercury switches, displays (e.g. cathode
ray tubes), batteries, data storage media, light generators (e.g. lamps),
capacitors, resistors, relays, sensors and connectors (mobile phones contain
many of the above components). The substances within these devices which
cause most concern environmentally are the heavy metals such as lead,
mercury, cadmium and chromium, halogenated substances (e.g. CFCs), polychlorinated
biphenyls ( aka PCBs, not to be confused with printed circuit boards),
PVC and brominated flame retardants (which can give rise to extremely
toxic dioxins such as PBDDs and furans such as PBDFs when incinerated).
Other components which are mentioned are arsenic, asbestos, nickel and
even copper (which can act as a catalyst to increase the formation of
dioxins during incineration).