Beneath the digital success story enjoyed by western economies over the past two decades lurks an ecological disaster, of which many are still not fully aware.
 

The disposal of IT rubbish in industrialised countries is a complex and expensive operation. Under EU law, such equipment must be dismantled or recycled because of the toxic cocktail of substances contained within, including lead, mercury and arsenic. This has made the disposal of e-waste in countries such as Nigeria and Ghana a lucrative business although some western companies who profit from the practice are little more than racketeers. Traders have the choice of paying between £3 and £5 per unit to have equipment recycled legally, or receive £2-£3 per unit by selling it on to a third party in Africa or Asia categorised as ‘second-hand goods’.

Grave health risks

Greenpeace has reported that the young people working on dumps in developing counties often break down these discarded electronic items for parts, but in doing so are exposed to the poisonous chemicals they contain. Dumped technology can be equally hazardous for the people living nearby. In China, a sample of water from the river Lianjiang near to a “recycling centre” contained levels of lead 2,400 times above the standards recommended by the World Health Organisation.

Concerns over identity fraud

Aside from the obvious health risks associated with this illegal trafficking of IT equipment, Adrian Harding, policy advisor for waste management at the Environment Agency, also warns that the people buying the IT in developing countries could be getting ripped off:

“They could be paying upfront and expecting a ship full of working units, but receiving useless broken ones. Or they could be receiving enough working units in each ship to sell on and make a profit, dumping the rest. We are trying to work out who is making the money," he says.

Dumped IT also presents a data risk with criminals mining the IT they receive for personal details that can be used in identity fraud or spam lists.

Responsible recycling

Experts say companies need to put more effort into ensuring their old IT does not end up illegally dumped by checking that they use reputable recycling firms, buy products that adhere to EPEAT standards with low levels of toxic materials and continually audit the recycling process.

The government has launched a "No Dirty IT" campaign and is calling on businesses to change the way they procure and use IT to help prevent waste being dumped.
 

All IT equipment taken away for disposal by Delta Comtech is recycled by RDC who for the past 12 years have been handling redundant IT equipment for some of Europe’s largest organisations in the government, finance, communications, and commercial sectors. With accreditation to BSI standard ISO 14001, 9001:2000, OHSAS 18001and a Queen’s Award for Enterprise for their innovative service solution, RDC are the first UK IT asset management company to deliver computer recycling with no residual to landfill. RDC also ensures confidential data is not recovered from redundant IT equipment by using specialist data overwriting and disk formatting software,. hard drives that are faulty or cannot be wiped of data are physically impaired rendering the unit inoperable prior to recycling through an approved process.