When It Comes to IT Waste Disposal, the UK and the US Are In the Same Sorry Boat

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FAIR LAWN, NJ – (November 9, 2011) – A recent research survey in the United Kingdom showed that 38% of large businesses don’t properly dispose of their used electronics. In the United States, says AnythingIT, a respected leading e-waste disposal services company, things aren’t any better.

“Many companies and businesses are disposing of their used electronics without considering best practices,” says AnythingIT President David Bernstein. “Our survey from June of this year showed that of the businesses in the Jersey City/New York City metro areas, only 36% of businesses here have clear IT waste disposal policies. That’s in line with what Vanson Bourne found in the UK.”

The Vanson Bourne research survey found that 38% of large businesses in the UK do not data wipe their systems before disposal, 57% do not account for decommissioned PCs, and a huge 75% of generated e-waste is sent to the landfill, despite laws making this illegal.

In the U.S., AnythingIT has found numbers are roughly the same. In the June survey, the 64% of businesses with no clear IT disposal policies included 37% of businesses with no policy at all and 27% had policies that were hard to locate or unclear to employees. Other surveys, conducted nationally, have shown similar numbers around the country with as many as 70% of large businesses not using best practices. The U.S. EPA estimates that in 2005, 2.2 million tons of obsolete equipment was generated and of that, 1.8 million tons was sent to the landfill.

“Here in the States,” says Bernstein, “laws regarding e-waste are at the state and municipal levels whereas in the United Kingdom, there is a national law. In both cases, it appears whether the legal approach is centralized or regional, compliance is not forthcoming. Sadly, much of the equipment being thrown in the landfill both here and abroad is re-usable or recyclable. The environmental benefits of establishing e-waste best practices are huge and for firms not doing so, the financial benefits may be better than they believe.”

About AnythingIT
AnythingIT, Inc., www.anythingit.com, is a United States Government-GSA contracted – CCR Registered Small Business vendor with Congressional Recommendation for IT Asset Recovery/Trade-in, Forensic DataScrub (Department of Defense 5220.22M certified), Donation Processing, and EPA E-Waste Disposal services.  Entering the 19th year of business, AnythingIT services both the commercial Fortune 500 as well as U.S. Government entities out of facilities nationally and globally.

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Tags: Business, David Bernstein, Fair Lawn New Jersey, Federal government of the United States, United States, United States Department of Defense, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Waste Management