Posts Tagged ‘Enterprise’
Computer Retailers & Manufacturers Need To Be More Responsible
Computer Aid International has called for companies involved with IT to be more responsible for the environmental cost of their products.
The organisation has produced a report: Green ICT: what producers must do, blaming original equipment manufacturers for poor practice and pollution in production.
A manufacturer, in terms of The WEEE Directive, is any company who builds computers, ranging from your Joe Bloggs PC retailer in the high street to the Multinationals such as Dell, they are both treated equally!
They say that manufacturers need to take responsibility for the entire life-cycle of their products.
The report argues that most environmental damage of computing happens during manufacturing; for instance, 80% of the energy used over a PC’s lifecycle is used before it is switched on for the first time.
The report cites mining materials and the excessive use of toxic chemicals in production as the source of the enormous carbon footprint made by manufacturing and its global sourcing and distribution chains.
Computer Aid International CEO Tony Roberts said: “In Europe all ICT manufactures including HP, Samsung, Nokia, Apple, and small independants have a legal duty to fund the end of life recycling of equipment that they produced.
“Within Europe manufacturers fulfil this requirement of corporate social responsibility and are justifiably proud of their green credentials.
“However we would argue that they have exactly the same moral obligations where their products are sold in Africa, Asia and elsewhere.
“Most developing countries are entirely without the kind of facilities necessary to re-use and recycle ICTs and to recover the precious metals and other composite materials before they pollute the environment and threaten public health and safety.”
The report calls for producers to be responsible for the end-of-life management of their goods in all countries they operate in, not just in rich developed countries, so that all nations can build the operational capacity to re-use IT equipment and to recycle e-waste.
It says producers need to shift the cost of toxic, wasteful design away from communities and the environment back to themselves.
They call for producers to be forced to include the real costs of their goods through wide-ranging programmes that encourage eco-design
To find out how the WEEE directive affects you, whether you’re an end user, retailer or manufacturer, contact Be Seen Go Geen for advice and help
WEEE: Questions to ask yourself if you sell EEE
I sell directly to household users. Am I a distributor?
- Yes.
I sell Electrical & Electronic Equipment only to Organisations users. Am I a distributor?
- Yes, but some distributor obligations do not apply in relation to sales of non-household EEE.
However your customers may ask you for information about the registered producer of
the EEE, and that producer may ask you for information about non-household
customers and sales so that they can report their sales correctly. Please note sole traders and partnerships are classed as consumers.
I only sell second-hand equipment. Am I a distributor?
- Distributor obligations only apply in relation to the provision of EEE that has not been
previously placed on the UK market. However you will still require {permits, licences] to operate
I sell only ex-demonstration, mail-order returns, open-box or surplus EEE. Am I distributor?
- Yes, ex-demonstration, “open box” EEE and mail-order returns are regarded as new
EEE and therefore normal distributor obligations apply.
I provide Electrical & Electronic Equipment incidentally to my main business (credit card rewards, loyalty bonus, and advertising). Am I a distributor?
- Yes. If you provide EEE to household users on a commercial basis, then you are a
distributor.
If I allow take-back, do I have to allow consumers to bring back any WEEE?
- Consumers may bring back items of equipment which they are replacing with an
equivalent new product on a like-for-like basis. If you offer take-back you must do this
for all types of EEE you sell. So, for example, a consumer buying a new microwave
oven would be entitled to take-back of one old microwave oven as WEEE. You would
not be expected to take back a completely different type of equipment, for example a
washing machine for a DVD player.
What is “equivalent” WEEE?
- Distributors are expected to adopt a reasonable interpretation of equivalence. For
example, a customer should be allowed to bring back an old video cassette recorder
when purchasing a new DVD player/recorder, as even though this is not strictly a like-for-
like replacement, the new product is intended to fulfil the same function.
How long after a purchase should I give consumers to bring back their WEEE?
- The WEEE Regulations do not lay down a minimum period for which take-back should
be offered. However, given that it is unlikely that customers will carry WEEE with them
while shopping, distributors are should accept WEEE within a reasonable period following a sale (e.g. 28 days). You may wish to endorse the sales receipt to govern
deferred in-store take-back of WEEE
Are faulty items returned to me classed as WEEE?
- No. Items intended for repair and return to use are not regarded as waste. However,
once it becomes clear that items are beyond repair and hence are to be discarded they
should be regarded as WEEE. From this point they should be dealt with in accordance
with the WEEE Regulations.
Can I charge customers if I offer collection-on-delivery services?
- It remains at the discretion of retailers whether to charge or not for any collection on
delivery services that they provide to consumers, but any such services would not fulfil
your take-back obligations.
How do I do take-back if I am a mail order distributor?
- Distance sellers must either join the DTS, offer in-store take-back through one of their
local stores (where these exist) or provide the customer with an alternative local route
for free take-back. The distributor must tell customers how they can dispose of WEEE,
for example via their catalogue, website, sales receipts, or through a leaflet included
with the purchase.
The producer demands a large product display to show his recycling costs. What should I do?
- The WEEE Regulations give producers the right to display any costs associated with
recycling historical WEEE. A distributor of EEE may not obscure or remove a sticker on
the product, but would not be obliged to erect an in-store display with the costs.
Producers and distributors may negotiate between themselves the appropriate means
of display.
At Be Seen Go Green, we offer solutions for a variety of Environmental issues. Please click on the following link to contact us.
Help Your Business In Enterprise Carbon And Energy Management
Energy efficiency and reduced energy consumption takes away the limelight of business accounting as initiatives on carbon footprint reduction is becoming the focus of attention. Economies of the future now consider carbon as a commodity, as it is a liability for enterprises in the entire world.
Soon, legislation shall create markets for carbon trading, which could add another column on the balance sheet. As the society is already becoming very much aware of the adverse effects of carbon to the environment, pressure from the society for companies to be responsive to their energy consumption and carbon footprint will continue to increase.
Corporate environmental sustainability may not be handled by a department or administered by the role of a junior vice president. Rather, carbon emissions must be addressed as a critical element of an organization’s existence. To slow down the already felt impacts of climate change, sustainable resource planning should be measurable, visible and real being part of each corporate requirements.
Collaborative approaches in enterprise energy and carbon management are now starting to emerge as the traditional systems are just not that holistic in approaching the problem. Sustainability resource planning software is an example of a software-as-a-service approach and is a way that distributed organizations can address this issue from the ground up as they move toward compliance.
The new-age enterprise energy management and carbon management systems will be heavily software-based that could monitor, report, and manage emissions which are consequences of energy consumption. A variety of IT systems already exist within the typical organization, designed to handle employee, customer, financial, raw material and finished product management. Enterprise carbon and energy management systems will become a critical addition to existing software systems and will be based on the need for greater operational efficiency, enhanced communications, mandated compliance and reputation differentiation.
Traditional methods of accounting are no longer acceptable in addressing problems of enterprise energy management and in reducing consequent greenhouse gas emissions. To create a structured information database and to aide analysis of multiple assets across an array of operational areas, a system must be created and executed in proactive management and performance assessment.
Distributed organizations are able to use carbon and energy management software to gather data from the asset level, calculating the true cost of ownership for all their assets, engage energy supply and demand management products, analyze and process utility bills, manage carbon emissions and other critical resources.
According to a market overview of enterprise carbon and energy management systems, released by Forrester Research in November, 2009, these systems are in the early stage of adoption, but such sustainability software will become a high priority as energy management in general becomes a clear focus of attention.