Managing e-Waste requires planning

Proper management of IT hardware not only boosts a company’s ecological and environmental sustainability, it can also contribute to achieving goals on the social front through e-Waste management with zero-impact on the environment says Akhtar Pasha

For many IT departments, the first response to the emergence of green IT has been to focus on energy consumption in the data center. Moreover, the talk begins there and many programs never move beyond that point. However, the reality is that companies can do much more to reduce IT’s environmental footprint while significantly reducing costs. Think of a zero-impact approach to recycling e-Waste.

Information on a product’s packaging is twice as important as a product’s design to consumers assessing technology’s green-ness. What is required is comprehensive planning in designing product, their packaging and recycling.

Think environmentally

e-Waste is a global concern today. It can have far-reaching adverse effects on the environment if not dealt with immediately. Awareness of e-Waste management is the key to getting more customers to come forward and dispose of their e-Waste in a safe manner. Customers must know that the way to dispose their e-Waste is simple. Their interest and attention to this aspect will go a long way in keeping out the dangers of e-Waste.

When it comes to environmental objectives, the ultimate goal is to minimize the factors that contribute to the global climate problem and prevent waste from poisoning the environment or harming human health. While carbon emission is one of the primary culprits, eliminating harmful e-Waste is another important goal. Many organizations believe they have already accomplished this objective, but according to the market followers, 80% of e-Waste collected for recycling is exported overseas where dismantling shops lack the processes to prevent hazardous materials from harming workers and the environment. Ironically Bangalore’s IT and related companies produce 11,000-12,000 tons of e-Waste annually and most of this finds its way to backyard recyclers in the by-lanes of Bangalore and very little goes to the authorized e-Waste managers who are competent to neutralize this waste. P Parthasarathy, Director, E-Parisaraa Pvt Ltd., [an authorized e-Waste recycle service provider] said, “Many IT companies prefer to sell their e-Waste to the highest bidder from unauthorized e-Waste traders as they offer a better deal.” He added, “We received far less e-Waste in CY 2008 than the normal level, which was about three tons per day. This year IT companies have junked only 500 tons of e-Waste to us. The reason for less collection is attributed to slowdown in the IT industry. Most of the IT vendors have decided to extend their usage of hardware and not to scrap it immediately.”

Nevertheless, not all e-Waste generated annually comes from IT hardware. Parthasarathy said, “Of the 500 tons of e-Waste that we received in CY 2008, only 70% was IT related such as CRT/LCD monitors, motherboards, CPU/cabinet, key boards, mouse, lithium ion batteries from notebook PCs and motherboards, printers, toners and servers (contributes about 5%) and more.” HP, IBM, Intel, Lucent, Infosys, Motorola, Accenture, GE, Arissent are some of the IT vendors with whom E-Parisaraa works closely to recycle IT components.

Parthasarathy is quite upbeat about IT vendors’ seriousness in recycling IT products, which is why the company is considering expanding its operations. E-Parisaraa has a recycling plant in Dobaspet near Tumkur (on the outskirts of Bangalore) with a capacity to recycle 10 tons of e-Waste per day. It plans to open new processing plants in Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai in 2009 and open new collection centers in Kolkata, Cochin and Pune.

Rajdeep Sahrawat, Vice President, NASSCOM, said, “The ubiquity of IT and the rapid decline of the price-performance ratio as prophesized by Gordon Moore, has resulted in a huge capacity creation in computing infrastructure including devices e.g. PC, notebooks, smartphones, servers and infrastructure e.g. data centers. The average capacity utilization percentage of most of the computing infrastructure, especially the data centers, hovers in the low teens. This low utilization coupled with the increasing cost of electricity and real estate has sharply bought into focus the high cost of operating computing infrastructure. Also, the rapid rate of technology obsolescence has resulted in a growing crisis around e-Waste.”

Vendors tacking e-Waste

IT vendors have come out strongly supporting the cause of recycling electronic waste. P. Ravindranath, Director, Public Affairs, HP India, said, “The number of PCs, servers, print cartridges and other electronics reaching the end of their usable life is growing rapidly. HP has been playing an active role in the disposal and recycling of used computing equipment in a socially and environmentally responsible manner.” The Planet Partners Hardware Recycling Program [PPP] for example is a part of HP’s ongoing commitment to offer recycling programs. It covers enterprise customers; the program will be offered to consumers in its final phase, expected in 2009. The program offers to take back end-of-life HP and non-HP computing equipment like personal computers, notebook PCs, computer monitors, handhelds, servers, printers, scanners and fax machines, as well as associated external components such as cables, mouse and keyboards. “This initiative offers customers the option of disposing and recycling used computing equipment in a responsible manner. To participate in this program, the customers need to follow a three step process for the recycling of the product—click on the product take back form, fill up the details and within five days, the logistics service provider will contact you to arrange collection,” added Ravindranath. Additionally HP is designing its products to use fewer and more environmentally sound materials that are easier to reuse and recycle. For example, up to 40% of glass in new HP CRT monitors is recycled from discarded monitors. HP is working with E- Parisaraa in Bangalore. “In the last two years we have has recycled over 209 metric tons of e-Waste,” said Ravindranath.

HP began remarketing used equipment globally in 1981 and recycling in 1987. HP exceeded its goal to recycle 1 billion pounds (450,000 metric tons) of electronic products and supplies by end 2007. It has now set an aggressive new goal to recover an additional 1 billion pounds for reuse and recycling by end 2010.

Ashok Tripathy, General Manager & Head, Personal Computing Division, Wipro Infotech, said, “Wipro has set up its e-Waste management process called Wipro Green Computing, which spans across its product lifecycle from design and manufacturing, right up to disposal. Wipro’s entire product range of notebook PCs and desktops is eco-friendly and compliant with the RoHS directive. Our Environment Management Team in Wipro has been leading the e-Waste initiatives since August 2005.” Additionally our manufacturing plants [ISO 14001 certified], situated in Pondicherry and in Kotdwar in Uttarakhand are green constructions and the products manufactured there are 100% RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances) compliant.”

At the hardware component level for desktops and notebooks, Wipro Infotech uses ROHS compliant components. “The finished goods are packaged in biodegradable cartons for products and accessories. The packaging also uses reusable cushion material,” said Tripathy. Additionally Wipro uses High Density Poly Ethylene covers so that they can be recycled and reused. “For our domestic customers, we have successfully institutionalized and launched an e-Waste disposal service wherein our customers can send their old Wipro PC’s and other Wipro products to us for responsible disposal of e-Waste,” he added.

L Sivashankaran, Director-Storage, Sun India, said, "At Sun we believe that we have a responsibility to consider and plan for every phase in our products' life cycles, from design and packaging to the stage when electronic components and equipment naturally reach end-of-life. This idea embodies our far-reaching commitment to Product Life Cycle." He added, "Under Sun's global product returns program, we are fully committed to maintaining our current goal that less than 5% of our products end up in a waste stream. Sun's global product returns program recycles, reclaims, and reuses components or entire systems. End users can return their end-of-life equipment to Sun for recycling, reuse, or proper disposal. Customers will be required to pay the freight charges to ship the products to Sun except where local legislation requires otherwise." Used computers and equipment are then collected and sent to a third-party asset recovery vendor for recovering useful parts, which are returned to Sun Microsystems for remanufacturing and reuse, often as field replacement units. Components and assemblies that have no commercial value as functioning systems or components are broken down for the recovery and recycling of metals and plastics.

TCS has an E-Waste Management Policy work in conjunction with the Environment Policy and Green Procurement Policy, under which TCS procures computers or hardware from USEPA/similar Energy Star labeled vendor, who are likely to take back e-Waste in the future.

Another way of looking at managing e-Waste is to extend the life of IT hardware. This reduces the demand for new hardware and amortizes the environmental impact of manufacturing over a longer period. Many organizations are surprised to discover how resource-intensive computer manufacturing is: according to the United Nations University, a PC requires as much raw material as a mid-size automobile to manufacture, while 81% of the energy it uses over its lifetime is consumed during production. With IT budgets tightening, lifecycle extension may prove to be a necessity for many organizations. This practice reduces total cost of ownership and diverts capital expense, making it an effective and sustainable green IT strategy.

Lifecycle extension can be supported by a proactive program that drives greater reuse of IT assets, both inside and outside the corporate enterprise. Redeploying IT equipment to other areas of the company that can still obtain value out of them can go a long way in controlling carbon emissions, waste and cost.

Acting responsibly

Charitable donation and remarketing are also effective strategies for reducing the volume of e-Waste entering the waste stream. Remarketing allows companies to obtain some replacement value to offset total cost of ownership for equipment that has no internal reusability and would otherwise need to be donated or recycled. Charitable donation can also help divert computers from the waste stream while supporting social responsibility objectives. Some vendors offer third-party warranty also in case IT companies decided to donate hardware components. In cases, testing and reconditioning of the equipment is critical to ensure a productive secondary life, while effective data sanitization is necessary. Take-back of donated systems is also important to closing the environmental liability.

akhtar.pasha@expressindia.com