As an experienced ITAD services provider – and an e-Stewards certified electronics recycling and e-waste specialist – our preference is for reuse whenever possible. When assets truly reach end-of-life, our processes conform to the highest environmental, legislative, and data security standards.
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Legislative Compliance: More than 'Doing the Right Thing'
When it comes to getting rid of old assets, “doing the right thing" is also good business practice. Most companies pay strict attention to regulations while IT assets are in service, but it's easy for typical standards to be overlooked once assets are removed from service. In fact, this is when they are most vulnerable.
In the U.S., at a minimum, e-waste (electronic waste) must be managed in accordance with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Failure to do so – even by the simple act of sending materials to a non-compliant recycler – could result in your company being found responsible for illegal waste management. Making the picture even more complex, in addition to national and international regulations, individual states have passed legislation around end-of-life asset handling, making companies liable for illegal storage or management.
The stakes are even higher for companies in regulated industries or companies that handle personally identifiable information including customer, financial, medical or personnel records — because end-of-life for IT equipment involves both the data and the device. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX), the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act (FACTA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) are among the laws that place strict requirements on institutions around data management for end-of-life assets.
To sum up, you must ensure you're compliant with all laws and regulations in the countries, states, counties and cities in which you operate. How do you track all the materials you retire? How do you prove compliance? How and where do you store the records? Even companies with robust IT department have found it to their advantage to partner with an established ITAD provider. -
Importance of Environmental Compliance Certification
When you’re researching potential ITAD partners, you’ll find they reference a range of industry standards including e-Stewards, R2, ISO 14001 and OHSAS 18001.
E-Stewards: Ingram Micro locations in the United States hold e-Stewards certification, which is the strongest, most rigorous environmental certification available.
• IT Asset Disposition companies with e-Stewards certification:
• Ensure Data protection through rigorous chain-of-custody and data destruction controls
• Operate an ISO 14001-certified environmental management system to monitor and manage compliance with all laws and regulations
• Ensure no sweatshop-, child- or prison-labor is used anywhere in the supply chain
• Comply with all global standards, laws, regulations and best-practices
• Strictly control all exports of electronics equipment, working or not
• Actively monitor the downstream disposition of all hazardous waste throughout the supply chain
• Provide full downstream transparency and auditability.
R2: The Responsible Recycling Practices Standard (R2:2013) is the leading standard for electronics repair and recycling outside of the United States. As part of R2 compliance, we keep abreast of all regional and local laws, rules and regulations wherever we provide service.
R2 certification practices encompass:
• Proper management of environmental and occupational health and safety issues
• Selection and management of responsible downstream recycling partners
• Secure transportation and facilities
• Compliant data destruction practices
• Safe storage protocols
ISO 14001: A baseline for any company involved in recycling or handling e-Waste, ISO 14001 is an international standard for developing and operating an environmental management system (EMS). Companies rely on an EMS to help them identify, manage, monitor and control environmental issues relevant to their business with the goal of ensuring environmental impact is measured and improved.
OHSAS 18001: This certification ensures that recycling processes comply with Occupational Health and Safety Advisory Services standards to provide a safe working environment for staff and external parties. The OHSAS 18001 certification ensures that companies meet legal and regulatory requirements for health and safety around the world. -
Sustainability: Recycling Alternatives
What's even better for the environment than responsible recycling? Getting the most life out of devices before they're recycled!
First, you may be able to reuse equipment within your own organization: Ingram Micro can help you cascade equipment from power users to staffers whose needs are more modest. We handle the entire redeployment process — from collection to delivery — ensuring data is erased and equipment is tested, repaired as needed and even upgraded (if desired). Choose equipment from your inventory via an online catalog for on-demand fulfillment, then we will load your software image and send the equipment to your user.
Reselling used assets allows you to recover operating capital and reduce e-waste, and is an area in which an experienced, established IT provider like Ingram Micro Commerce & Lifecycle Services offers more value than local recyclers or in-house IT departments. After we prepare your assets for resale, we'll remarket them through the channel(s) most likely to yield the highest return: retail, auction, our own ecommerce outlet or wholesale buyers.
Finally, we can help you donate your used equipment to the charitable organization of your choice (or we can remarket your equipment and you can donate the proceeds). Whichever approach you choose, Ingram Micro Commerce & Lifecycle Services will handle all the details to ensure a successful program.
Find out more about Asset Recovery.
