Old equipment disposal - Free companies?

[park_bench]

Hello everyone.

 

I work in a school in Lancashire. We have many old CRT screens, dodgy old base units and even a couple of photocopiers to dispose of.

 

I know there are a couple of companies that offer to pick up all the old unwanted rubbish for free, as they strip the bits down and reclaim the salvage money.

 

The companies I know of operating in the North-West are "GAK-IT" and "North West Computer Recycling" (or something like that). However, I don't have any contact details for these companies (they dont have a web-presence).

 

Does anyone have contact details for these or any other Equipment disposal company please?

[petectid]

Lancashire computer waste disposal 01254 726303

Electronic recycling 0151 2285626

[park_bench]

Thanks Pete,

 

I'll try one of those - Lancashire Computer Waste Disposal is closer to us - have you had any dealings with this company?

 

Cheers,

Ben

[LCWS]

Blatent spam removed! - Ric_

[Firefly_Transport]

I used this contact; please rember though they are not a dumping ground. They will come an take away a great deal stuff with good warning and have been very helpful in put working but redudant equipment back to use.

 

They will have to dispose of anything they cannot use and charge you for that - however that charge has been rather better than average.

 

Feel free to contact me if you want to know/checkup on anything.

 

Contact:

Dave George

ICT Manager

 

Cooke e-Learning Foundation

5 Herbert Avenue

Belgrave

Leicester

LE4 5DW

Tel: 0116 2661050

[dezt]

I have used Lancashire computer waste disposal 01254 726303 in the past.

 

They have been very good taking 2 van loads of computrs and monitors away with no problems.

[garthsmojo]

Weve used lancashire computer waste services on numerous occations. They take any thing IT based faxes cables dead or alive monitors etc. A very good efficient service and all at no cost.

[starscream]

anyone know any companies that do this in the North East? I can only find manchester based ones that cost the earth. We did have a local company that removed each item for £4 each and all cabling and what not was free and they even gave us a document with all the serial numbers of equipment disposed of.

 

Shame but they've shut down now.

[m25man]

Under the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations that come into effect on the 1st July 2007 company directors, principles, CEO's and responsible officers who break the new rules could face unlimited fines and even criminal prosecution.

 

The imminent legislation has left many businesses confused as to what their responsibilities will be when disposing of surplus electronic equipment.

 

Current guidelines show it will affect not only manufacturers but all importers, distributors, retailers, resellers and end-users, even those who may reasonably believe that they've complied with the law.

 

The Environment Agency and DEFRA will pursue the person who "last used the equipment" not just the person who carried out any illegal dumping.

 

This has caused a great deal of controversy amongst the smaller resellers and indeed anyone manufacturing their own PC's.

(Would be interested to see what SCL have to say about this).

 

It is your responsibility to ensure that the equipment you dispose of is handled according to WEEE directives, failure to do so may result in you and your school being prosecuted with fines of up to £30,000 being imposed!

 

So before you fill up that Silver Transit Van with Irish number plates with all of your old pc's and monitors make sure that you have all of the required paperwork from your contractor to ensure your WEEE compliance.

If just one of your systems turns up in a landfill with your postcode etched on it and you do not have proof that it was passed on in accordance with WEEE you could be in deep do do...

 

If they are certified they will have all of the required paperwork to offer you.

If any company claims they will take it all for free, and they are NOT certified for WEEE disposal I would probably have to draw up a bill of sale with all items detailed, serial nos etc etc and take £1 from them assigning ownership and more importantly any WEEE responsibility over to them.

 

File it and retain it for 6 years.

 

Under the gise of cleaning up the planet you can be sure that men with clipboards will be scouring the local dumping grounds looking for your old system units in the hope of slapping a huge fine on your establishment!

[FN-GM]

why dont you drop them off at some charity shops?

[Andrew_C]

They may not welcome them due to electrical safety/liability issues.

[witch]

I've said it before and I will say it again:

 

Freecycle it!

 

Freecycle is a yahoo group all over the country where people advertise stuff they don't want and others come and get it

 

I managed to get rid of 27 working and 8 non-working computers this way, with no cost to the school (no thanks either, but that is another matter!)

 

A warning though - you might want to set up a new email for freecycle - you get a lot of emails!!

[enjay]

why dont you drop them off at some charity shops?

That just transfers the problem doesn't it! Also, you will find that many charity shops won't take them due to a) the electrical safety implications and b) the difficulties disposing of them if they don't sell. There are organisations that will refurbish and redistribute PCs, but they understandably have minimum spec requirements, which are often greater than anything which a school is chucking out.

 

Even if you do find someone willing to take them, it would only help you get rid of working equipment - you still need to find a means of disposing of dead equipment.

[elsiegee40]

I've said it before and I will say it again:

 

Freecycle it!

 

Just registered for it WITCH and instantly found someone asking for any old computers and peripherals!

 

Just issued an invitation to him to inspect the contents of the school shed with me!

 

Lin

[witch]

Great!

I hope you get rid of everything you can.

Glad to be of help

[CheeseDog]

http://www.maxitech.biz/new/index.html

 

This company was featured on BBC Working Lunch a while back. Didn't see the festure myself a family member forwarded me the link as they new I was looking to offload some stuff.

 

Never used them in the end as a fellow edugeeker had the stuff off me after I advertised on this board.

 

So any feedback would about this company would be good, should you use them.

[garthsmojo]

I've said it before and I will say it again:

 

Freecycle it!

 

Freecycle is a yahoo group all over the country where people advertise stuff they don't want and others come and get it

 

I managed to get rid of 27 working and 8 non-working computers this way, with no cost to the school (no thanks either, but that is another matter!)

 

A warning though - you might want to set up a new email for freecycle - you get a lot of emails!!

 

The main problem with doing this or giving equipment to staff, pupils etc is that you leave yourself open to allsorts of legal and insurance problems. As well as end of life issues.

 

If some who receives one of your machines is electocuted or it sets someone's house on fire then you and your school are liable. Your insurance company will not cover you and most of your IT budjet for the next 5 years will go in settling the claim.

 

To make a few quid or save a few quid in disposal costs is it really worth it?

[timbo343]

if anyone on here is in the yorkshire area, there is a company called M J K Recycling, http://mjkitrecycling.tsohost.co.uk/index.htm these guys will pick up for free if you have below 30 monitors but will only charge you a little amount if over this. Very good service too. Also there are a few companies out there that will buy your old equipment back, like http://www.buy-it-back.com.

[conundrum]

actually there is a bigger problem. Seems that the Data Protection Act 2001 overrides WEEE and RoHS, such that if data is present on the hard drives, then it must be securely erased before disposal.

 

Unfortunately, just removing the drives leaves a pile of dead drives which cannot be recycled or reused due to DPA, but must be under WEEE.

DPA does not specify the exact level of erasure required, and obviously faulty drives cannot be erased effectively in any case.

 

The best way to solve this unfortunate problem is to exempt hard drives from the WEEE rules, but as far as I can tell this has not been done.

 

IMHO if you need to get rid of old PC's the best way to do this is to strip them down yourself, sell or give away the components to anyone who wants them, and then recycle the rest as scrap metal.

 

(or better still sell the machines minus HDD's and power cables for 1 UKP each, and a signed disclaimer, having first removed all serial markings.)

 

Oh yeah, and Ebay is also quite effective, have sold a lot of equipment this way.

 

-A

 

(who is voting UKIP in the next election)

[garthsmojo]

Hard drives or any component are not covered by WEEE as they do not run off an electrical supply. It is however covered if it is inside the machine or an external caddy as it can then be powered.

 

A big hammer and screwdriver is usually seen as just about the only way of fully protecting data. M.o.d. and NHS insist on all drives going through a metal shreder.

[Geoff]

M.o.d. and NHS insist on all drives going through a metal shredder.

Incineration is also acceptable. just remember to clean out all the left over metal parts from the incinerator occasionally.

[russdev]

@garthsmojo

 

That is easy to solve you do what we do. We created a transfer on owernship form as soon as they sign the form the item becomes there legal liability which includes correct disposal of it.

 

To be honest anyway I would prefer our computers to be recycled then goto to disposal company (currently ours go to caretaker who gives them to friend who sends stuff to Africa)

 

Russ

[enjay]

actually there is a bigger problem. Seems that the Data Protection Act 2001 overrides WEEE and RoHS, such that if data is present on the hard drives, then it must be securely erased before disposal.

 

Unfortunately, just removing the drives leaves a pile of dead drives which cannot be recycled or reused due to DPA, but must be under WEEE.

All the WEEE disposal companies I've spoken to offer secure data removal as part of the service. I don't know what method they use, but nor do I care :-)

[garthsmojo]

@garthsmojo

 

That is easy to solve you do what we do. We created a transfer on owernship form as soon as they sign the form the item becomes there legal liability which includes correct disposal of it.

 

To be honest anyway I would prefer our computers to be recycled then goto to disposal company (currently ours go to caretaker who gives them to friend who sends stuff to Africa)

 

Russ

 

Transfer of ownership does not get you out of your legal resposibility with regard to end of life, weee or data protection. If you give a P.C to anyone with any paper work it is your responsibility to ensure that that person will not dump it illegally or give it some who will.

 

If a monitor and pc with your label or etched markings is dumped in a country lane you can be fined between £75-£50,000. If there is data on the hard drive you can be fined a further £5000 and be sentenced to 2 years in prison. If it were a laptop with a battery there could also be a further £5000 rohs fine.

 

This all come under DUTY OF CARE which came into force in 1991. You can no longer say some guy came and picked it up and took it away. Until the item reaches its end of life and is disposed of or sold to a company (not end user) who take on end of life resposiblity, then you are liable for that item where every it goes for the rest of its life. This also applys to sell stuff on ebay etc.

 

There are plenty of asset management companies who will pay you for your kit or charity / recycling projects who will take you kit for free. The choice is yours but giving them staff and kids should not be one of them. By all means give them to the charity yourself but leave any chance of machines ending up going straight from you to end users. £5000 will buy a lot of nice new IT kit but not if you get fined.

[Andrew_C]

Transfer of ownership does not get you out of your legal resposibility with regard to end of life, weee or data protection.

By that argument, it is the manufacturer who is going to catch the fine if I sling my old tat into a skip. All they did was transfer the ownership to me, after all.

 

Do you have a reference for your statement?