Just in time for Earth Day 2010: It's time to take real responsibility for our corporate e-waste

(Apr 15 2010) ERP , ERP Blog

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Technologies: Cloud Computing, CRM, CRM Blog, ERP, ERP Blog, Green IT, on-demand, SaaS, web-based

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  1. It's the right thing to do, and your IT department has to get involved

    By Todd R. Weiss             ERP Blogger

    Enterprise IT involves a lot of buying, deploying and refreshing of hardware and software over a business' lifetime.


    We usually do it without thinking much about it. The new hardware arrives, then the old stuff usually goes out for reuse or disposal and it's out of our lives.

    But as the earth gets more crowded and as vast amounts of old electronic waste is created, it's more important for all of us, and our companies, to pay a lot more attention to what happens to our old computers, monitors, network gear and other equipment that becomes outmoded as the march of better technology continues.

    The reason is clear – there are many toxins in the materials used in today's electronics and that means that unless they are properly disposed of, they can cause pollution problems and health problems when they are thrown away.

    Today, a week before the annual celebration of Earth Day on April 22, the environmental group, The Basel Action Network (BAN), unveiled what it claims is a global first – an electronic waste (e-waste) recycler certification that is backed by environmental groups and major corporations around the world, including Bank of America, Samsung, Wells Fargo and Capitol One Financial Corp.


    It's about time.

    What's that mean for you and your company?

    It means that it will soon become easier for companies like yours to do the right thing when disposing of old IT equipment. The problem today is often that companies pay other companies to dispose of their old electronics but they don't know that it's being done properly. That can mean that electronics are illegally dumped or shipped around the globe to countries where environmental laws are less stringent so they can be disposed of more easily. The problem with that is that it creates major pollution problems in other parts of the world, while endangering people in those countries due to the toxic materials in the old e-waste.


    The new BAN program creates what is being called the "e-Stewards Standard," which "calls for recyclers to eliminate exports of hazardous e-wastes to developing countries; to halt the dumping of such wastes in municipal landfills or incinerators, and to cease the use of captive prison populations to manage toxic e-wastes," according to the group. Also included are rules that call for strict protection of customer’s private data and occupational health safeguards to ensure that workers in recycling plants are not exposed to toxic dusts and fumes.

    This is exactly the kind of organized program that's needed to make all companies better stewards of the environment while also helping to keep toxic materials out of our air, water and soil, said Carol Baroudi, a green IT analyst and the author of the book, "Green IT for Dummies."


    "It's a problem we have as a society in general, this problem with electronic waste," Baroudi said. "We're all going to have to become more aware of it, the environmental impacts, with six billion people on the planet. In IT, it's the whole environmental sustainability piece."

    Some large IT companies, including IBM, Cisco Systems and Symantec, are already doing just that, Baroudi said, by consciously being more environmentally responsible in their business methods, she said. "They are looking at product design because a lot of the problems in the end game have to do with the designs and materials" used in today's computers and electronics. "Apple has shown that you can actually create, build and sell a laptop without toxins in it."

    "IBM is putting muscle behind trying to create products so they can be recycled more easily at the end of their product lives and that won't take gas masks to take them apart," she said.


    One of the key problems with today's e-waste disposal systems is that many are there in name only, without safeguards and checks and balances to be sure that disposal is being done correctly, Baroudi said.

    Today's BAN announcement is important, she said, because it calls for auditing of these processes across the facilities by independent third parties to be sure that the rules are properly followed, she said. "There had been pledges before, but this is really the teeth," she said.


    Forty-five electronics recyclers are included in yesterday's BAN announcement, with more likely to join in the months and years ahead.


    This is long overdue. This is the responsibility of all of us, from companies to consumers to governments.


    We have one earth to live on and we need to do a better job of protecting the planet.


    So be an IT leader. On Earth Day next week on April 22, bring this important topic up inside your company. Talk to your IT department. Talk to the executive team. And do what you do. Lead with energy, knowledge and insights. And starting with your company, you can make a difference for us all.



    Todd R. Weiss is an award-winning technology journalist and freelance writer who worked as a staff reporter for Computerworld.com from 2000 to 2008. He spends his spare time working on a book about an unheralded member of the 1957 Milwaukee Braves and watching classic Humphrey Bogart movies. Follow him on Twitter @TechManTalking. Write to him at toddrweiss (at) gmail (dot) com.

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