Cheaper E-Waste Recycling Services Can Incur Big Costs by John Sharpe

Just because your organization has invested in e-waste recycling services, it doesn't mean that you're getting the most for your money. Some low cost services have proven particularly dodgy, as last week's revelation around a global recycling firm proves. The company confessed to dumping and burying televisions and other e-waste in a large hole behind its warehouse. The company had promised customers it would recycle the electronics according to environmental standards, but it seems to have chosen a cheaper, environmentally irresponsible alternative. The company withdrew from the e-Stewards certification program earlier this year.

In another example from late 2014, the Basel Action Network (BAN) uncovered that an e-waste recycling operation in Georgia, , was using an operator to smash hazardous electronic glass and send it to a landfill that wasn't certified for hazardous e-waste. It was only after the company sought to become certified to another standard, the rigorous e-Stewards Standard administered by BAN, that suspicions were raised about the company's online sales of broken equipment, a clear violation of e-Stewards. Prior to that time, the firm successfully secured several government and university asset disposal contracts.

Hiding e-waste in places it doesn't belong is an all too common phenomenon. By taking shortcuts, companies that offer untrustworthy e-waste recycling services are putting current and future generations at risk.

That's where the e-Stewards program comes in. The e-Stewards program provides the needed transparency, due diligence and performance requirements to ensure safe and ethical recycling. And, with respected companies such as Iron Mountain on your side, you can know that your assets are secure. Iron Mountain is an e-Stewards Enterprise, so you'll know that your assets won't end up anywhere they shouldn't.

For more information around how to choose an e-waste recycling vendor you can trust, download a free copy of our eBook: Media and IT Asset Disposition: Your Guide to Selecting a Vendor.

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2015/service-lines/data-backup-and-recov...
	See more stories from ironmountain

Most recent headlines