One of the biggest environmental issues today comes from an unexpected source; the safe disposal of communications, electronics and information systems containing a whole host of toxic materials.
Love/Hate
Whether you love them or hate them, it matters not computers and information technologies are here to stay. Until recently most of us have not given so much as a second thought to the manufacture, maintenance, decommissioning and eventual disposal of computer, networking and information technology systems and devices. We just use this technology and once it passes its “use by” date in with the new and out with the old. Any thoughts about toxic materials and environmental damage never entered our minds.
Call to Action
In excess of 130,000 computers, being trashed every day the problems concerning the handling and management of the toxic materials contained in these devices becomes ever more urgent. On top of this, more than 2 million tons of electronic waste found its way into U.S. landfills last year.
Now take into consideration the estimated 975 million PCs and servers that will enter into active service over the next couple of years. With most of these new machines replacing older machines for one reason or another the picture becomes ever more compounded and the true enormity of the toxic computer waste issue takes on a new and very disturbing light.
Add to this the fact that more than one billion new cell phones enter active service every year and even blind Freddy can see that something needs to be done now before the situation becomes totally out of control. However; all is not lost. Humanity's apathy both past and present, toward what is and what is not “acceptable” or the “accepted practice” for the appropriate, safe environmentally friendly disposal of information technology hardware once its use by date has expired is rapidly changing.
What is most shocking is that this change in society's perception of acceptable disposal practices is not because we are all becoming devout “green” enthusiasts. It's all about privacy and those entrusted with ensuring our privacy doing as they preach. Casual security is simply just not acceptable.
Raised Awareness and Concern
The reason for our increased interest in the safe “sanitized” disposal of older computers and computer systems along with mobile computing and communications devices is that it seems that nearly every other day a new instance of abuse of or theft of personally identifiable information such as our personal health records makes news headlines. Credit card fraud is rampant and we all want it to stop.
These are the prime public motivations for more rigorous monitoring and regulation of IT systems disposals. The “green” benefits are a bonus. We do not want the bank or health insurance company to be sending their old computers containing our personally identifiable information (PII) to some third world country for dumping at least not without the hard drives having been thoroughly cleansed of our PII first.
OK; while we are at it we might as well go the extra yard and do something about the threat that toxic materials pose to the environment as well. Here is where we need to identify precisely what toxic or hazardous materials are involved and the best way of doing this is to construct a hazardous materials register that identifies the various materials and their sources.
Dealing with Hazardous and Toxic Materials
When it comes to dealing with toxic and hazardous materials issues in the real world it always helps to know in advance, as much as possible about whatever may be confronting you as well as what to look out for and where to find it. The creation of hazardous materials list containing a complete register of the possible sources of hazardous and toxic materials is the first task in developing environmentally friendly disposal plans.
It is also necessary to compile a full up-to-date inventory of current assets and asset classes as well as to conduct an assessment of any current and pending regulatory requirements that you may be required to meet. Once armed with these tools you will be able to assess what actions and procedures will be required for the development and implementation of environmentally friendly information-sanitized disposal procedures on an asset by asset level.
What to Look For and Where to Find It
Considering that all electronics will contain; lead and tin from solder and copper used to manufacture wires, cabling and as the traces on Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) including motherboards and adapter cards creating a thorough hazardous materials list is no easy task. Below is an alphabetical list of some well-known hazardous/toxic materials and dangers contained in computers, communications and networking equipment and other electronic devices.
