HP opens new technology renewal centre in bid to tackle e-waste

A new technology renewal centre was officially opened by IT manufacturer HP this week. Promisingly, this move shows yet another multi-national company investing in sustainable business practices.

The centre, to be based in Erskine, Scotland, will oversee the sale of second-hand equipment to government and enterprise customers. This 8,400 square metres facility will also be used for the safe refurbishment and recycling of end-of-life technology, regardless of equipment type or manufacturer.

Therefore, this centre can be used to recondition any returned IT equipment. However, the service is only open to HP customers, from across the EMEA region, who are planning to upgrade their existing systems. 

The equipment returned to the facility, including PCs, laptops and servers, is put through a rigorous renewal process that includes reconditioning, testing and certifying assets back to original manufacturing standards.

Following the renewal process the equipment is then either remarketed or rebuilt to specific customer requirements, while assets with no remaining residual value are decommissioned and recycled by the company’s recycling partners.

This new Erskine centre will be owned and operated by HP Financial Services, the company’s leasing and asset management subsidiary. In allowing HP to manage the disposal of their IT equipment, customers not only reduce the storage costs of outdated equipment but also eliminate the complexities and huge risks associated in the disposal of computer software.

One of the biggest concerns in the disposal of such equipment is the risk to security. Failing to comply with the 160-plus data security and environmental legislations in place for the renewal and recycling of IT equipment can result in penalties, fines and in extreme cases custodial sentences. HP’s service therefore ensures that customer data is safely removed and that equipment bearing its name does not end up in an unregistered scrap yard.

“HP has full responsibility for the equipment that we take out of service,” said Paul Sadler, service delivery manager in the Education Department for the States of Guernsey Government, an HP customer. “Without HP’s help, we would have to pay to store our decommissioned equipment. HP now handles our old equipment and sees that it enters the recycle stream properly.”

With more than 120 million PCs expected to be refurbished, remarketed and reused over the next five years in the global secondary market alone, renewal services are expected to be a key component to the centre’s operations. According to Jim O’Grady, director of Global Asset Management at HP Financial Services, the company already manages and remarkets more than 2.3 million IT assets a year.

The new facility will be modelled on HP’s existing Andover technology renewal centre in the US, which has been operational for more than a decade. Despite Erskine being five times smaller than the US site, HP forecasts its new plant to process up to 800 units each day.

“Equipped to handle the strategic requirements of enterprises large and small, the Erskine facility will enable HP Financial Services to significantly expand the global capabilities, asset management and recycling services we provide our customers,” said O’Grady.

The rapid uptake of new technology has seen global e-waste rise significantly. In 2011 there was an estimated 41.5 million tonnes of e-waste, which is expected to more than double to 93.5 million tonnes in just four years.

The UK Government calculates that around one million tonnes of electronic waste, with a resale value of approximately £200 million, fills Britain’s landfills each year. Figures from a United Nations report, published in 2010, paint an even grimmer picture, with an estimated 10 million tonnes of electronic waste sent to Europe’s tips alone per annum. The report also states that waste from all discarded electronics will increase dramatically in the developing world, with computer waste in India alone set to grow by 500 percent from levels seen in 2007 by 2020.

By opening its new facility in Erskine, HP says, albeit by a small percentage, it hopes that it will help to reduce the potential e-waste in the renewal of older IT equipment that would otherwise wind up in landfills throughout the world.
 

 

Images courtesy of HP Financial Services