From early 2007 all UK companies will have to comply
with the WEEE Directive, which will govern the disposal of
electronic goods and computer equipment.
Improving financial governance has been high on the agenda for
most IT directors in recent years, but environmental governance is
still generally neglected by IT departments.
However, with spiralling energy bills and new environmental
legislation on the way, the landscape could be about to change.
From early next year all businesses will have to comply with new
laws on the disposal of electronic goods, including all computer
equipment. Although the legislation, the UK's enactment of the
Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive, places
most of the onus on suppliers, businesses using IT equipment will
also have some responsibilities.
Above all, businesses must be aware how the legislation could
affect negotiations with suppliers, experts have warned.
"Most businesses are asking if there is anything they need to
watch out for, and the answer is yes, particularly if the supplier
is palming off responsibility onto you in the contract," said Jane
Southworth, associate at legal firm Eversheds.
"It is one thing if you know [about your recycling
responsibilities] but some firms have a way of putting things on
page 40 of the contract, in the small print."
Gartner principal analyst Meike Escherich also warned that
suppliers may seem to offer cut-price hardware, but offload their
environmental responsibilities in the contract small print.
"It happens quite often. When you look at the contract it is
amazing what is left out. It is up to the end-user to make sure
that all the loose ends are covered."
She said small and medium-sized firms are likely to find it most
difficult because they are less aware of the legislation and its
impact.
On 25 July, the government issued draft legislation on how the
WEEE Directive will be enacted, which is likely to come into force
early next year, once a period of consultation is completed.
IT departments should be aware that they will become responsible
for recycling any computers and peripherals they want to dispose of
if they were bought before 13 August 2005 and are not being
replaced with similar equipment.
But with IT departments increasingly looking to consolidate
servers or take advantage of networked computing, this notion of
like-for-like replacement could be difficult to pin down. Indeed,
even once the legislation is finalised it is unlikely to become
clear.
"There will not be an exact definition of like for like,"
Southworth said.
If you are replacing like-for-like, then the supplier of the
replacement machines is responsible for the disposal of the old
equipment if it was bought before 13 August 2005. For machines
bought after that date, the supplier of the orginal machines being
replaced is responsible for their disposal.
However, this does not mean a business can simply treat the
problem as solved. Although suppliers may be legally obliged to
dispose of redundant technology in a legal way, they can refuse to
take on a contract if the task is too onerous.
The Department of Trade and Industry puts the cost of
implementing the WEEE Directive for businesses and their suppliers
at between £108m and £124m in 2008. Suppliers are unlikely to meet
this cost alone, Southworth said.
"If you are in the process of a large expansion, you need to
check what the contract says about disposal. You should think about
who is paying the end-of-life cost. You may pay more because the
supplier has the responsibility. If the supplier has gone bust you
may end up paying anyway, so you may want to say, 'take money off
and we will do the disposal'," she said.
Escherich said that in the vast majority of cases it would be
better to allow suppliers to handle disposal, even if prices go up
slightly, because they have the economies of scale to deal with the
problems most efficiently.
"It is not just the price - disposal includes logistics, wiping
hard discs, and so on. It is easier if you hand back as you receive
new equipment," she said.
Fujitsu Siemens already offers a buy-back scheme for old
computer equipment and in the future this will be extended to help
companies comply with the WEEE legislation.
Mark Danis, head of asset management at Fujitsu Siemens, said it
was still unclear exactly how the legislation would work, but
manufacturers would most likely take responsibility and include the
costs in their pricing.
This could mean £4 or £5 on the price of a laptop, he said.
Energy consumption to come under scrutiny
Businesses are likely to face environmental obligations over how
efficiently they use energy. Although legislation governing carbon
emissions currently affects only the most energy-hungry businesses,
if the government is to meet its targets experts are in no doubt
that all large businesses will come under some form of carbon cap
and trade scheme. That means power-hungry datacentres will come
under greater scrutiny.
Michael Rea, director of strategy and markets for the Carbon
Trust, said, "Within services businesses, historically energy
consumption is not an issue, and not a big part of what IT
professionals have to worry about. In the coming years, that will
change.
"Most manufacturers do not have energy consumption high on the
list of important features, but user pressure can help change
that."
As well as the power consumed by computers, firms will have to
limit the energy used to keep them cool, particularly with large
datacentres.
"Businesses should take it into account when building a
datacentre they expect to be around for 20 years," said Rea.
Although green cooling technologies include sophisticated
thermal stacks, as employed by the new parliament building
Portcullis House, Rea said simple factors to consider included
ensuring a datacentre site was well shaded.
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