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How have things changed since you started the business ?
There have been massive changes in people ’ s attitudes to the environment and the need to use our resources better , yet over 54 million tons of waste electrical items were produced in 2019 ! This has led to much higher levels of regulations and governance . Environment Agency and Waste regulations have kept pace to ensure manufacturers , importers , retailers and consumers take more responsibility for managing the end-of-life obligations .
Client awareness of corporate responsibility and how best to recycle technology products has increased exponentially and we have , as a data safe recycler , shifted our client engagement methods from education to consultation as businesses approach us with much higher levels of awareness of the issues they need to address .
Another change has been the viability of recovering precious metals . When we started Blackmore Ricotech , companies were literally filling skips with PCs and sending them to landfill . Now there are well established businesses and processes , both in the UK and overseas , to safely recover nearly all the rare Earth metals and minerals that the average laptop or mobile phone contains . The environmental damage being caused by the prospecting and mining of metals and minerals can be reduced if we can recover and reuse what has already been dug up .
There has also been a revolution in reuse and repair , with many companies having in-house refurb and repair departments . Furthermore , the growth of online reselling has extended the life of many products .
Do you think that businesses and their leaders are informed enough about the everyday IT choices they are making ?
At the end-of-life stage , we see the whole spectrum from highly informed clients to full ostrich ‘ head in ground ’. Some businesses will pay the correct market rates for recycling whereas some don ’ t
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seem so careful and hand over hazardous waste carrying sensitive data without due diligence .
From the perspective of purchasing , we understand how IT Managers are under constant pressure from their staff to keep pace with technology and the competition . Keeping machines running longer and repurposing in-house is important for sustainability but difficult when staff might feel stigma to being issued a “ hand-medown ”.
There needs to be an attitude shift towards reuse and repair and to remember that not every employee needs to be in the IT arms race for the best machine available . This is common at senior level , where directors are issued the most powerful devices and only really do emails , calls and report reading !
What processes do you have in place which help the decarbonisation of industry when recycling products ?
Blackmore Ricotech achieves exceptionally high levels of reuse , with all staff having technical hands-on processing as opposed to using destructive crush and shred decommissioning .
Every item coming through Blackmore is thoroughly assessed for reuse or sparesharvesting to maximise the chance of it avoiding onward shredding . Every device is sent for onwards processing through carefully audited downstream partners who are linked to the circular economy , ensuring rare and precious metals and minerals are fed back into the manufacturing industry .
What items are the biggest offenders ?
There are four areas that cause us the greatest frustration when trying to be green :
1 . POPs ( Persistent Organic Pollutants ) are highly toxic flame retardant treatments which are banned in Europe but continued to be used until 2009 . Products we recycle manufactured pre-2009 are systematically diverted straight to specialist POPs recyclers for careful processing to ensure these nasty
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man-made chemicals are prevented from ever entering the environment and causing long term damage .
2 . Hard to repair products . We continue to be disappointed when we receive equipment that could easily be reused in terms of specification / power , but the manufacturer has not designed in ease of repair .
3 . The Crazy Copper Carousel Caper ! Millions of mains leads , USB leads , manuals , multi country plugs and connectors that go round and round the world ’ s recycling and remanufacturing industries that are never used . Incredible futility and resource waste .
4 . Companies who insist on destruction not reuse !
What advice could you impart to help in our quest to achieve Net Zero ?
In the spirit of the recent Olympics , we would like to have a podium of three pieces of advice .
In gold place , we need to start ‘ designing in ’ reuse and recycling , making it easy to separate materials at end-of-life . This will promote the circular economy to reduce the unsustainable demand on the Earth ’ s resources .
In silver place , we have to start educating and encouraging everyone to consider resource efficiency and environmental impact . We need to add recycling and resource use awareness into the school curriculum .
The bronze goes to the enforcement . Like every good law , regulation or directive , a good carrot is accompanied by a good stick . Empower our agencies and systems to asset track , intercept , investigate and prosecute to prevent illegal ( and careless ) landfill , export or fly tipping .
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“ We need to add recycling and resource use awareness into the school curriculum ”
For more info : www . r3cycle . co . uk www . blackmoreit . com
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THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2021 15 |