{"id":5953,"date":"2020-11-23T19:43:43","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T17:43:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/?p=5953"},"modified":"2020-11-23T19:43:45","modified_gmt":"2020-11-23T17:43:45","slug":"companies-and-small-enterprises-need-to-rethink-how-end-of-life-equipment-is-dealt-with","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/companies-and-small-enterprises-need-to-rethink-how-end-of-life-equipment-is-dealt-with\/","title":{"rendered":"Companies and Small Enterprises need to rethink how end-of-life equipment is dealt with"},"content":{"rendered":"Reading Time-approximately:<\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>\n

Electronic waste is a massive and growing problem, but many companies are not recycling or reusing IT equipment, instead opting for physical destruction of the assets<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Sebastian<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By Sebastian Klovig Skelton<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enterprises are physically destroying IT equipment and unnecessarily sending it to landfill due to outdated security policies and a lack of education, with many believing it is actually \u201cbetter for the environment\u201d, according to data sanitisation firm Blancco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We look at how AI and data science are supporting the global push to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. <\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In January 2019, the\u00a0World Economic Forum and the United Nations E-waste Coalition\u00a0found that approximately 50 million tonnes of electronic waste, or e-waste, are produced each year \u2013 most of which is either incinerated or dumped in the landfills of the world\u2019s poorest countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A\u00a0research study\u00a0released by Blancco in April 2020 looked at policies of 1,850 of the world\u2019s largest enterprises and found that, despite 83% of organisations having a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy in place, only a small amount of end-of-life equipment is being sanitised and reused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPhysically destroying IT assets, when accompanied by a certificate of destruction and a full audit trail, is a valid data disposal option when hardware has reached end-of-life \u2013 especially if those assets are damaged or otherwise not in good enough condition to be erased and reused or resold,\u201d it said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHowever, if physical destruction is performed on hardware that has not reached end-of-life or is still in good condition, it is simply bad practice.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking with Computer Weekly, Alan Bentley, head of global strategy at Blancco, said security concerns were a major reason why enterprises still opt for physical destruction of their assets over recycling or reuse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe way that companies have grown up with their assets and then think about what they do with them, physical destruction was a much easier, simpler process and then it got written into security policies,\u201d he said, adding that many policies still dictate that an organisation must physically destroy a certain number of assets to be compliant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo then change your process when it\u2019s already in a policy is\u2026 quite difficult for a lot of really large organisations to do. But we have to educate the enterprise that it\u2019s not true anymore \u2013 there are guidelines in place that say, \u2018If you follow a certain type of software erasure using certain standards, it\u2019s the same as physically destroying the asset\u2019, and so you don\u2019t need to physically destroy it because you can use a different process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On top of this, Blancco\u2019s research also found that 39% of global organisations physically destroy\u00a0end-of-life equipment\u00a0because they believe it is \u201cbetter for the environment\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are very reputable organisations that say that they will dispose of physical assets from a destruction point of view with the environment in in mind,\u201d said Bentley.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut, fundamentally, if you can reuse an asset, I can\u2019t think why you would want to destroy it. What we do as a company, from a product point of view, is try to delay the end of life of the asset. Just because you want the latest and greatest version of a laptop doesn\u2019t mean your laptop isn\u2019t of any use to someone else. It can carry on being used instead of thrown away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To fix this, Bentley said companies should look at their security policies to review whether their \u201csecurity requirements around data sanitisation are up to date and in line with the latest and greatest capabilities in the marketplace\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added that companies should exercise diligence when choosing which e-waste disposal partners to work with so there is no confusion between them about the processes involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are a lot companies that do this service, but you do need to do your diligence on which ones are doing the job in the right way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact of Covid-19 on CSR and sustainability<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The current approach to destroying IT equipment caused massive\u00a0supply chain problems\u00a0when the coronavirus pandemic started, as organisations now supporting a home-bound workforce did not have enough tech to give employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll of a sudden there was a huge demand for laptops around the world, but because of all the supply chain issues there weren\u2019t any. There was a big push to buy second-hand devices that could be used at home, and the majority of the supply came from ITADs [IT Asset Disposal firms],\u201d said Bentley.<\/p><\/blockquote><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe onus is on organisations to understand, \u2018What am I doing from a refresh cycle point of view, and what\u2019s happening to these assets once I finish using them?\u2019. The sustainability question for them is a big one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFrom an environmental impact point of view, they have to understand, \u2018If I\u2019m still physically destroying 30 to 40% of all my assets, why am I doing that? Is it absolutely a security requirement, or am I doing it because it\u2019s what I’ve been doing for years?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bentley added that the pandemic also offered enterprises a chance to be more socially responsible, pointing out they could either sell or donate the surplus IT equipment instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the UK, many kids are getting homeschooled who are vulnerable or from poor backgrounds. Can their parents or guardians afford to buy them a laptop? Can the school give them all laptops? There is a huge opportunity for enterprises to live up to their corporate social responsibility,\u201d he said, adding that he expects to see a greater push towards CSR in the coming months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere is ever increasing pressure on carbon neutrality and climate change, and I don\u2019t think that\u2019s going away \u2013 it\u2019s been highlighted in the past three to four months because we\u2019ve all seen that when human activity stops,\u00a0the climate starts to recover.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rise of  Environmental Social Governance (ESG) investing means more investors are also looking to support companies that have very clear environmental policies, as well as those with clear intentions to improve on them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019re talking the largest enterprise in the world, [CSR] is self-governing, but they are taking it seriously which is a good thing. There is pressure from governments and there is pressure from investors, and that does tend to make enterprises move more quickly,\u201d said Bentley.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reading Time-approximately:<\/span> 4<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span>Electronic waste is a massive and growing problem, but many companies are not recycling or reusing IT equipment, instead opting for physical destruction of the assets By Sebastian Klovig Skelton Enterprises are physically destroying IT equipment and unnecessarily sending it to landfill due to outdated security policies and a lack of education, with many believing it is actually \u201cbetter for<\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[155,38,35,30,180,59,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5953","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-batting-for-tech-in-the-covid-19-times","category-best-practices-for-data-center-operations","category-data-center-facilities","category-expert-advise-and-opinion","category-it-efficiency-and-sustainability","category-it-spending-and-budgeting","category-timeless-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5953","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5953"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5953\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5954,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5953\/revisions\/5954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5953"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5953"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tekmart.co.za\/t-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5953"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}