Protect Your Health and the Environment from E-Waste

IT'S EARTH DAY EVERY DAY

One person’s trash is another person’s treasure.

Back in the day, technology evolved and upgraded every year. Nowadays, you can take a nap or just blink and you can bet that technology has somehow evolved in that moment. 

So, as they say, “out with the old, in with the new”. What people don’t know is, there are a lot of moving parts behind that statement. 

As the latest and greatest of new technologies come out, and businesses or agencies try to keep up with the latest, or a gamer just wants a faster gaming machine for the online games at home, or hospitals wanting to own the latest in medical technologies to provide the best medical care, they much all address the same question, ‘What do I do with the old equipment?” “How do I protect my data?” “Can I recoup any of my original investment?” “Why is the sky blue, and, can cars fly yet?”….. OK, maybe not that last question. 

Electronic waste (E-Waste), also known as end-of-life (EOL), includes everything that plugs in the wall or runs on batteries, including computers, laptops, servers, music equipment, TV’s, disk players, printers, keyboards, phones, (sanitized) medical equipment, testing equipment, networking equipment, cables, etc etc. 

Although there are services that refurbish, recycle or safely dispose of these items, a large amount of e-waste still ends up in a landfill. In fact, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that millions of tons of electronics are manufactured every year, and although nearly 100% of those items are recyclable, only approximately 15% are properly disposed of.

There are too many reasons why you should not trash electronics and have them end up in landfills. Here are just a few that may impact your business and community the most.

E-waste Can Be Hazardous Waste

Many electronic devices contain hazardous chemicals. E-waste connected health risks may result from direct contact with harmful materials such as lead, cadmium, chromium, brominated flame retardants or polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), from inhalation of toxic fumes, as well as from accumulation of chemicals in soil, water and food.

Here are a few examples of the hazardous waste electronics hold.

• Leaded glass: Computers and television screens contain leaded glass, which is a poisonous heavy metal.
• Cancer-causing elements: Batteries carry explosive and cancer-causing elements such as cadmium, lithium and lead.
• Mercury: Some appliances like gas hot water heaters and chest freezers contain mercury switches. When mercury isn’t properly disposed, it may create serious health issues such as respiratory and skin disorders.
• ...... and many more

A few examples of what some of these chemicals can do to your health:

• Chromium: Can damage the body’s DNA and irritate the mucous membranes. Chromium is commonly found in data tapes and floppy disks.
• Lead: Lead exposure has long been shown to cause severe impairments in children and multisystem breakdown in adults. Young children are particularly vulnerable to the toxic effects of lead and can suffer profound and permanent adverse health effects, particularly affecting the development of the brain and nervous system. Lead also causes long-term harm in adults, including increased risk of high blood pressure and kidney damage.
• Polyvinyl chloride: PVC plastics, when incinerated, can release chlorine gas. When this gas is mixed with water hydrochloric acid is formed which can lead to respiratory distress.
• Americium 241: Smoke detectors and some medical equipment contain this element whose isotopes are both toxic and radioactive.
• Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC): CFCs have been known since the 70s to cause detrimental effects on the ozone layer.
• Mercury: The inhalation of mercury vapour can produce harmful effects on the nervous, digestive and immune systems, lungs and kidneys, and may be fatal.
• Brominated flame-retardants: A study shows that flame retardants increase the danger of invisible toxic gases, the leading cause of death in fires. Another study also found evidence of exposure to TDCIPP, a cancer-causing flame retardant, with a higher risk to women and children.

There are many more examples, but you get the picture, responsible E-Waste services are not just about protecting our environment and your private data, it's about protecting the health of humans, our families, children, pets, agriculture, farms, etc. 

Proper Disposal Should be, and in some States, are Regulated

As a business or government agency, you’re subject to local, state and federal regulations regarding e-waste disposal. 

These regulations should be taken very seriously, not only because of the severe negative effects mentioned above, but you could become subject to legal trouble, including very high fines and penalties. Look up your local regulations, or, contact a local ‘Certified’ E-Waste / ITAD firm for information. And YES, in many cases, you have to pay. This is a very labor-intensive service that requires expenses, however, depending on the service, you could potentially earn some cash for your business; sure would be nice to receive a return from your original investment.  

Another incredibly important consideration – DATA SECURITY.

Do you have data/information in your hard drives that you're concerned about being leaked or hacked? Some things to consider:

• GDPR
• Company proprietary info
• Client info
• Compliance Concerns:

1. HIPAA
2. DOD
3. PCI
4. FATCA
5. GDPR
6. EFTA
7. COPPA
8. FACTA
9. And many more compliance's

• Private/Personal pictures
• Private videos (ahem)
• Anything confidential and important to you
• Credit card / bank account numbers
• ...... Get it?

DO NOT Disregard any potential data in any storage media that could put you at serious risk of legal problems, you will be held liable and potentially lose your business.

By the way, ‘trashing’ files or ‘formatting’ a hard drive is not enough. Work with a certified firm that can provide you a Certificate of Destruction, and you could also ask for an inventory of the hard drives that goes through the data destruction, i.e. Serial Numbers of each drive. Request as much info and proof as you wish for your own records and peace of mind. 

There are several options to properly handle your End-Of-Life equipment.

• Work with a certified company, and ask for proof that they really are certified. If they say they are compliant with the certifications, but not actually certified, that may be a red flag. Certified companies are audited and monitored carefully, you should only work with an actual certified company, this is very important and highly recommended. Certifications to look for include R2, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001.
• Make sure the E-Waste company can provide you a certificate of recycling for the items they disposed of, and certificates of destruction for any data destruction. 
• You may need help decommissioning equipment from data centers, those white glove services are great and convenient.
• Data Destruction services can be done at your location if you want to witness the destruction of the hard drives and are not comfortable with the hard drives leaving your site.
• Depending on your company and what equipment you want to ‘dispose’ of, you may be eligible for a Revenue Share program. In some cases, you could earn enough credit from your equipment to not only off-set the invoices, but you could receive a check. 

1. Yes, you could actually profit from doing the right thing, ask the firm you work with, but this is not for everybody, it depends on the equipment.
2. Ask about IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) services where you can potentially earn cash back from your equipment

• You can ask for inventory of the equipment that was picked up or dropped off for your records. You don’t necessarily need inventory for everything, but should for data containing devices
• You can request a chain of custody to track where all your equipment went.  
• Even though I mentioned the possibilities of a revenue share, that will not always apply, it truly depends on what equipment you are disposing of. If you have to pay, please don’t argue, there are a lot of moving parts and if you work with a good credible company that’s doing everything right, they should be paid, especially if they are doing everything right. Those companies have employees, facilities, equipment, insurance, materials, etc etc, but nothing more important than the people, who have families. It’s hard to hear people yell at employees about how they shouldn’t have to pay to ‘trash’ items, even though they probably pay monthly dues for their home trash pickups, when they don’t understand all the work that goes behind this service.  The other risk of not paying, if the government catches you illegally dumping E-Waste, those fees are a lot higher, trust me.

If you are not convinced or have concerns about a company, even if they are certified, ask for a tour of their facility and ask for documentations about how they follow all the laws and regulations. There are a lot of rules to follow, so ask about them. 

I’m happy to answer any questions or offer more information, feel free to contact me directly, or visit www.technorescue.com.

Regards,

Nidal Y Allis

President & CEO

Techno Rescue

1 (844) 878-4902

[email protected]

www.technorescue.com

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I Proudly served in the U.S. Air Force where I serviced the Intelligence Community as well as the Department Of Defense (DOD), but most importantly, I served my country. Now, I am President & CEO of Techno Rescue.