One of the biggest environmental issues today comes from an unexpected source; the safe disposal of communications, electronics and information systems containing a whole host of toxic materials.

Love/Hate

Whether you love them or hate them, it matters not computers and information technologies are here to stay. Until recently most of us have not given so much as a second thought to the manufacture, maintenance, decommissioning and eventual disposal of computer, networking and information technology systems and devices. We just use this technology and once it passes its “use by” date in with the new and out with the old. Any thoughts about toxic materials and environmental damage never entered our minds.

Call to Action

In excess of 130,000 computers, being trashed every day the problems concerning the handling and management of the toxic materials contained in these devices becomes ever more urgent. On top of this, more than 2 million tons of electronic waste found its way into U.S. landfills last year.

Now take into consideration the estimated 975 million PCs and servers that will enter into active service over the next couple of years. With most of these new machines replacing older machines for one reason or another the picture becomes ever more compounded and the true enormity of the toxic computer waste issue takes on a new and very disturbing light.

Add to this the fact that more than one billion new cell phones enter active service every year and even blind Freddy can see that something needs to be done now before the situation becomes totally out of control. However; all is not lost. Humanity’s apathy both past and present, toward what is and what is not “acceptable” or the “accepted practice” for the appropriate, safe environmentally friendly disposal of information technology hardware once its use by date has expired is rapidly changing.

What is most shocking is that this change in society’s perception of acceptable disposal practices is not because we are all becoming devout “green” enthusiasts. It’s all about privacy and those entrusted with ensuring our privacy doing as they preach. Casual security is simply just not acceptable.

Raised Awareness and Concern

The reason for our increased interest in the safe “sanitized” disposal of older computers and computer systems along with mobile computing and communications devices is that it seems that nearly every other day a new instance of abuse of or theft of personally identifiable information such as our personal health records makes news headlines. Credit card fraud is rampant and we all want it to stop.

These are the prime public motivations for more rigorous monitoring and regulation of IT systems disposals. The “green” benefits are a bonus. We do not want the bank or health insurance company to be sending their old computers containing our personally identifiable information (PII) to some third world country for dumping at least not without the hard drives having been thoroughly cleansed of our PII first.

OK; while we are at it we might as well go the extra yard and do something about the threat that toxic materials pose to the environment as well. Here is where we need to identify precisely what toxic or hazardous materials are involved and the best way of doing this is to construct a hazardous materials register that identifies the various materials and their sources.

Dealing with Hazardous and Toxic Materials

When it comes to dealing with toxic and hazardous materials issues in the real world it always helps to know in advance, as much as possible about whatever may be confronting you as well as what to look out for and where to find it. The creation of hazardous materials list containing a complete register of the possible sources of hazardous and toxic materials is the first task in developing environmentally friendly disposal plans.

It is also necessary to compile a full up-to-date inventory of current assets and asset classes as well as to conduct an assessment of any current and pending regulatory requirements that you may be required to meet. Once armed with these tools you will be able to assess what actions and procedures will be required for the development and implementation of environmentally friendly information-sanitized disposal procedures on an asset by asset level.

What to Look For and Where to Find It

Considering that all electronics will contain; lead and tin from solder and copper used to manufacture wires, cabling and as the traces on Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) including motherboards and adapter cards creating a thorough hazardous materials list is no easy task. Below is an alphabetical list of some well-known hazardous/toxic materials and dangers contained in computers, communications and networking equipment and other electronic devices.

Alphabetical Hazards List

• Aluminum – Heat and heat sink combos, fans, electrolytic capacitors, cases and enclosures (external HDD)
• Batteries – Cadmium, Nickel, Lithium, Lead, Mercury, Nickel Metal Hydride, Iron, Phosphor
• Beryllium Oxide – Thermal paste
• Cables and Wires – Copper – PVC insulation, do emit some EMR, which can be of concern when in the presence of sensitive equipment and strong electromagnetic fields. Shielded varieties will also contain various other metals used to provide the shielding
• Cadmium – Batteries
• Cathode-Ray Tube (CRT) – Lead – All CRT-based monitors contain lead. All CRT-based televisions also contain lead. Also, contain Copper and sometimes Gold. A typical CRT monitor can be over 6% lead by weight mainly contained in the glass
• Copper – Wire, cabling, PCB traces and component leads, cooling fans, power cords
• Data – You may think it to be somewhat strange to find data in this list but the facts are that the vast majority of all business (small or otherwise), enterprise and individual user data involves sensitive information including:
• Personally Identifiable Information (PII)
• Ecommerce and Financial Records
• Both Off-Site and On-Site Storage
• Authentication Credentials
• Inappropriate Materials – Should not be there in the first place
• Sanitize storage media prior to disposal or reallocation
• Electricity – Electrocution, fire, equipment damage, personal injury
• Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR) – CRT monitors emit EMR, and by components within the system case as well as cabling of all types will produce electromagnetic Interference (EMI)
• Gold – Computer component connector plating (the golden fingers)
• Indirect Environmental Damage – Carbon Dioxide produced to generate the electricity used to power the PC, its components, peripherals and other devices as well as to power the cooling systems used in server farms and data centers. With global warming such an issue the carbon issue is only just heating up (sorry about the pun).
• Iron – System case chassis, other cases, fittings, fixings
• LCD Displays – Mercury – All LCD-based display systems contain mercury including LCD-based displays used as computer monitors, televisions and other LCD-based screens such as those to be found with digital cameras, Personal Digital Assistants (PDA), smart phones, cell phones, mobile devices etc may also have copper and gold components
• Lithium – Batteries
• Magnetic Tape – Environmentally unfriendly
• Mercury – All LCD-based displays
• Monitors – Monitors emit Electromagnetic Radiation (EMR)
• Motherboards – There are a considerable number of toxic materials used in the manufacture of motherboards and many add-on adapter cards. Capacitors for example have a habit of leaking toxic chemicals.
• Nickel – Batteries
• Optical Disks -Plastics, polycarbonate substrates and metal containing phthalocyanine compounds
• Power Supply Units (PSU) – Potentially dangerous electrical currents and voltages. PSU tend to be the most unreliable of all PC components
• Printed Circuit Board (PCB) – Lead, Tin, Halogens, Plastics – The flame retardant, usually halogens, used in the manufacture of PCBs is toxic and makes it very difficult to recycle the material. Also, contain a considerable amount of lead-tin solders. A variety of environmentally “unfriendly” plastics are also used
• Printers – Various metals, plastics and a large assortment of dyes and toners, which can create problems if released into waterways
• Processors – Silicone, Aluminum, Copper, Gold and other trace elements
• Semiconductors – Cadmium, Silicone, Gold, Copper, Aluminum
• Silicone – Semiconductors, transistors, PCBs, integrated circuits
• Silicone Paste – Silicone paste is a generic silicone compound applied to most Graphics Processing Units (GPU) and Northbridge chipsets. It is toxic.
• Thermal Paste – Thermal paste is essential for ensuring adequate heat transfer from components with high thermal densities such as modern processors (Central Processing Unit or CPU), Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), RAM, chipsets etc. The exact composition of thermal paste can vary from one manufacturer to another. Here are some of the more common components of thermal paste Micronized Silver, Boron Nitride, Aluminum Oxide and Aluminum Nitride all of which are rather toxic.
• Tin – Tin is one of the ingredients in solders and as a coating on edge leads and contacts. The edge contacts, also called; “Golden Fingers” are the interfaces on adaptor cards and expansion slots.
• Zinc – Plating

Disposal/Recycling

The safe disposal/recycling of servers, routers, switches, workstations, desktops, laptops, mobile devices, communications equipment and any data contained therein are all important environmental factors that information technology (IT) managers need to take into account.

Bottle and can recycling programs have over the years proven to be extremely effective in reducing the percentage winding up in landfills and making a significant contribution toward keeping our roadsides free of discarded cans. No longer are they the littered nightmare they were in the 1960s.

Municipal toxic waste collection programs help greatly in ensuring that chemicals from batteries, motor oil, paint, lubricants and household cleaners don’t wind up in the ground water. Electronic waste, however, remains a growing concern and considering the significant quantities and different types of toxic materials and sensitive data contained in these items we really do need to start rethinking our current strategies and get more environmentally in tune with our attitudes and practical approaches.

The refurbishing and reselling of older PCs and networking devices help the environment in more ways than one. First of all every refurbished PC put back into active duty is one less new PC that needs to be built. It also means one less PC that contributes to landfill.

The Green Factor

Let’s face it; the “green” factor extends far beyond the realms of multi-core microprocessors (CPUs), in-rack cooling systems, rack-mounted devices, servers, blade computing, cloud computing, energy-efficient power supplies and improved cooling systems. While they do help to cut down on electricity consumption and carbon dioxide emissions they still remain as but one part of the story/solution.

What is required is a more complete; and as the politicians like to say, comprehensive policy regarding electronics, information technologies and the environment on all fronts. Part of the solution lies in using this now redundant processing power to find solutions to these environmental issues.

Replacing old/older information systems and supporting infrastructure is only a sound environmental practice if the older equipment; being replaced by the newer more energy efficient equipment, is itself disposed of in an environmentally safe manner.

Data Leaks

If any of the personally identifiable information is “leaked” through improper disposal procedures most organizations will find that the bad publicity generated by the mass media is only just the start of their troubles. Fines for regulatory non-compliance and lawsuits; including class actions, instigated by those whose PII was not disposed of properly will follow quick smart.

In fact many small to medium businesses do not survive for more than three years after a publicized breach of confidentiality or improper handling of PII has been publicized in the mass media. You need to ensure that you and your business associates comply with all regulations.

Don’t forget that the onus is upon you to prove that you did do the correct and regulatory compliant thing. If you can’t then trouble won’t be long coming. So make sure that all storage media is thoroughly sanitized.

You don’t want to end up having to explain to shareholders or customers why the old equipment and/or Personally Identifiable Information (PII) is showing up in a dump in Pakistan, a blast furnace in Canada or on various Internet “black market” websites. It is here that compliance with environmental regulations and social responsibility take on greater importance

Additional Resources

Additional templates and lists are publically available through the Institute of Electronics and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA).

The National Institute for Science and Technology (NIST) is another great source of information where you can access numerous publications pertinent to the disposal of hazardous materials including best practices and policy development guidelines.