You may have heard about the increase in electronic waste, but why is there such an e-waste problem? What is e-waste? E-waste is short for ‘electronic waste’. It refers to any electrical item with a plug that has come to the end of its useful life. The chances are that you don’t still have the first smartphone you ever owned, or you’re still watching a boxset of actual videos? As technology changes at such a mind-blowing rate, it leaves a host of redundant technology. This is all within less than a generation. The e-waste problem dates back to 1970’s and has grown exponentially over the last 5 ..read more

Today, it’s impossible not to rely on electronic items for both business and socially. Your electronics have come to the end of their life. Do you know what to do regarding disposing of electrical items without harming the environment and compromising your data security? From something as simple as the office PC, to photocopiers, smartphones or smart speakers – our lives wouldn’t be the same without them. They hold so much data and we expect them to last. But unfortunately, they do have a shelf life. GDPR overview In case you’ve been in a bubble for the past year or so, you’ll have certainly h ..read more

We heavily rely on hard disk drives to keep our electronical items running smoothly both for work and leisure. A hard drive is a storage device contained inside electronic items such as PC’s, laptops and photocopiers that acts as secondary storage, continuously sending and receiving messages. A computer cannot work without it. We expect this intricate piece of equipment to work, but never think to ourselves ‘how long does a hard drive last?’ Or what to do when it fails. So exactly how long does a hard drive last? As with all electrical items, hard drives have a finite shelf life, and their lif ..read more

When thinking about the disposal of electronic waste, you may be wondering what to do with it. In this article we tackle whether electronic waste can be reused, and what to do with it when it cannot be salvaged. What is e-waste? E-waste or (electronic waste) basically refers to any old or broken electrical item with a plug, but also expands to mobile phones, tablets and other portable devices such as wearable fitness trackers. No doubt most of us have an old mobile phone lying around that is redundant, often after only 2 years of use. Once these items have come to the end of their life conside ..read more

With the right to flexible working available to employees, companies now have a duty to consider any requests from their staff. Flexible and agile working are becoming integral parts of our working culture. With exponential advances in technology we enjoy increased freedom, breaking the ties from the ‘9 – 5’. Employees can broaden their stance, enjoy increased amounts of autonomy and ultimately a more balanced life. Benefits of agile working Agile and flexible working affords many benefits to both the company and the employee. As a company, there is the ability to save office space and cost sa ..read more

EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive came into force in the UK 2007, becoming law in 2014 and simply encompasses any electronic item attached a plug. It is primarily a producer and distributor waste law and seeks to control the responsible disposal of electrical items. The aim is to prevent items being dumped into landfill by using the reduce, reuse, recycle and recover motto. Waste management and handling companies are required to comply with the directive when removing WEEE from households or company premises. Targets for recycling Regulation targets have been set an ..read more

We’ve all heard in the news about that impact that single use plastics such as drinks bottles and plastic bags are having on our environment. When your electrical equipment breaks or you upgrade, do you know what to do with your old items? With regard to electrical equipment, especially those containing plastics, many of the components can be stripped down and recycled. When discarding electrical items, do you know what to do? Does your business know how to comply with the WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronics Equipment) Regulations? Old Electronics Take a moment to think about the broken or ..read more

The hard disk drive has changed our world beyond all recognition since it’s invention in the 20th century. As it’s built into our computer it’s invisible to us, so we take the hard drive for granted… Out of sight out of mind Here, we look at some interesting facts about the hard drive and their lifecycle: The hard disk drive (or HDD) was invented as a means of secondary storage for computers by IBM. The first HDD was the size of two medium fridges, weighed a ton and had a storage capacity of 3.75 megabytes. In today’s terms, this would store the equivalent of one digital photo!! Luckily, thin ..read more