Waste handling
During the last year, waste
handling procedures have become probably the most critical issue to be
addressed by organisations who need to dispose of their redundant equipment.
This has been caused by 2 pieces
of legislation: The Reduction of Hazardous Waste (ROHS) Directive, which passed
into law in July 2005, and the Waste Electronic & Electrical Equipment
(WEEE) Directive, the final formulation of this has been delayed following
consulations with DTI.
Northern Realisations were among
the first in the UK to appreciate the
likely implications for companies active in the field of IT equipmet
refurbishment and have put in place the following measures:
These measures do not mean that we
intend to broaden our activities into materials reclamation and salvage. Our
primary activity will remain that of processing equipment for re-use, both
within the Microsoft Authorised
Refurbisher Scheme, and the commercial channel
The primary aims of environmental policy
are
Reduce - Extending the life of equipment
makes a significant reduction in the demand for new hardware - the manufacture
of new IT equipment is undeniably a major contibutor to the environmental
hazard - 9 tonnes of waste are generated in the manufacture of one portable
computer
Re-use By ensuring that IT equipment achieves total utility and a
prolionged lifespan, we are able to lessen both the impact of the manufacture
of new equipment and the quanity of equipment enetreing the waste chain.
ReCycle Equipment
which cannot be re-utilised is channelled into our waste disposal service
partners to ensure that we achieve the maximum possible overall recycling rate.
In the year to July 2005, the proportion of equipment
handled by Northern Realiations, which was either re-utilised or recyled was:
94.5%
The WEEE target recyling rate is 70%
The DTI's position on recycling for
re-use is as follows:
"The Government is concerned to
meet the Directive's objectives for reuse ....... DTI will convene a re-use
taskforce drawing together interested stakeholders."
Northern Realisations Ltd are pleased
to see the acknowledgement of the value of reuse and look forward to working
with their clients to ensure compliance with the new legislation.
We will post our definitive
statement on the WEEE & ROHS Directives as soon as the implementation
scheule is finalised
If you would like to receive the
statement by mail, please inform us on:
For the meantime, the following
links are to various pages published by DTI, DEFRA and the European Commission