Acid Baths Come Free

Here in eReco land we have taken a strong position against the illegal export of WEEE to countries such as Ghana. If you read back through previous blog posts you will see a lot of angst but does it make a difference? Does anyone give a flying fortress?

Then someone followed us on Twitter, @Africaewaste to be precise, and I had a good look at their website here to see what they were all about. I urge you to go and take a look and read their newsletters, especially the one from October 2014.

And this is South Africa. I am not an expert on Africa by any means but as I understand it South Africa is one of the wealthier countries, and one of the more progressive. It makes you wince. I read the story of acid baths being used to separate metal and thought of kids doing the work for pennies and getting sick and wondered how many of those machines had been donated to a ‘charity’ or collected by a free service in the UK?

Because this is the ultimate price we are paying for all those free collections. Ok, let’s be reasonable here, not all of them. Some of them must be making money by other means than dumping on Africa but I have to tell you I struggle to see how, unless they are cutting corners somewhere.

Bob Geldof embarrassed us all with the original Live Aid. His ‘give us your fecking money’ approach to fundraising certainly upset a few applecart’s but as he said, kids were dying. Well kids are still dying and we are all complicit in it.

I talked to a prospect this morning. Nice lady. She explained that her IT equipment all went to a charity. I began to ask some questions, she began to hum and ha. She did not know what they did with the equipment. She was not sure how they removed her data or what paperwork she got, but it was for a charity, so it must be ok?

In short, I was banging my commercial head against a brick wall. Mention the word charity and we all want to jump into a bath of baked beans or run a marathon in a bunny suit. Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse used to do sketches about it...everything is fine as long as it is for charity.

Well in this case it isn’t. To paraphrase what Sir Bob might say, it’s a fecking disgrace. Not only are far too many businesses and organisations risking a serious data breach but they are also aiding the exploitation of third world countries. Oxfam are running TV campaigns about children dying in the Sudan at the moment, and yet people are donating their PC’s to Africa? They need food, they need clean water, they need medicine...they do not need a Facebook page.

I do not have all the figures. This is a blog not Panorama. I believe 190k tons of UK WEEE ends up in Ghana every year. Africa is a big place and there must lots of directions things can enter from, so it must be hard to ever get a true picture. But can we not apply a little commonsense here?

Yes, these collections are free. But ask yourself how and why? Even if it is a charity, they have costs to cover before they even make any money for their particular cause. How can they keep you compliant for no charge? What is going to happen to the data? Where is the equipment going to end up?

Maybe you don’t care? Maybe paying £50 to get rid of that rubbish in the store cupboard is too rich for your palate? Free sounds so much better...even if someone else pays a heavy price? Well just think about that acid bath, just think about the people who are forced to scrape a living dealing with your waste. Just think about 190k tons every year in Ghana.

I clearly want you to use us to recycle your WEEE. I admit our commercial interest, but we are not the only ones trying to do things properly. Use someone who is. Please. People are being conned and misled and the planet, and its people, our brothers and sisters, are suffering badly as a result. And it’s such a small insignificant thing.

Please let’s stop being blasé. Let’s start being truly responsible. Let’s forget about what we paid for that shiny new laptop 4 years ago and think about it buried in Africa, or bubbling away in an acid bath. Responsible recycling doesn’t cost a fortune, but only you can make sure that it does not cost the Earth.

Total Eclipse of the Heart

We here in eReco land are very proud to be associated with the Eco Schools programme as their IT recycling partner. We have a passion for data security and sustainability, and as parents we certainly believe that our kids need to learn some harsh lessons about both topics.

Of course there is a commercial edge to our partnership. We really do love what we do but we don’t necessarily do it for love. Mainly because HSBC have yet to start accepting hugs as hard currency! But the truth is we care about our school communities. That is why we have written a white paper, a guide to IT recycling for schools, which you can download here Schools White Paper to try and distil the issues involved in IT asset disposal in a few un-technical pages.

Please take a look and please give us your feedback. The problem we face in talking to schools is that they like to be green AND charitable, and being non-commercial do not always appreciate the risks involved. They do not like being ‘sold to’ and they want to do the right thing...they have just not been told what the right thing really is. So our white paper is an attempt to help them see the wood for some not inconsiderable trees.

This morning...shortly after posting this blog...we will all be trying to see a partial eclipse of the sun. I don’t think we will see much in gloomy West Sussex as it happens but we are British, so we will troop out into the car park and try. But thinking about the eclipse made me think about Bonnie Tyler’s famous hit, written by Jim Steinman of Meatloaf fame. With teachers we really are trying to get them to think with their head’s, not their hearts, and in the education sector, where passion and vocation are rightly valued, that is not always easy to do.

On the face of it, donating old equipment to charity is a good thing. A good job done Headmistress if I may say so, collected for free and off to Africa. Might even make a nice little story in the newsletter don’t you think? And I am not being facetious here, I have had this conversation with dozens of schools and even one Local Education Authority. When I tell them what they have done they are horrified, often at least initially disbelieving and perhaps even a little scared.

So, hearts back in your bags please, if I see another one before the bell you will all be in detention for a month. Heads on and concentrate. In my opinion, any second hand computer equipment sent out to Africa is an abomination. Why? Well for a start, according to the Oxfam advert I saw on the TV several times last night kids are dying in the Sudan. They need clean water not Angry Birds. And secondly the old kit will eventually end up in landfill. So we are just exporting our past mistakes all over again. Either sustainability means something or it doesn’t. Make up your minds.

Thus even perfectly legitimate charity’s who do things properly are wrong. The charlatans and the crooks at least aren’t kidding themselves that they are doing nice things. Therefore, if you have your head on straight, donating equipment to anyone who intends to export it out of a WEEE regulated zone should be a HUGE no no. Turn around bright eyes and look at the flipping light.

And then there is the data aspect of things. Anyone who has read my blogs before will know that far too many people are blasé about data security. In business, I sort of get that. Here at ACME Widgets Limited, my database of merry widget consumers does not seem THAT important. I can understand how people can think that no master criminal is going to want their data, and that no one would notice if they did. But these are schools.

The data they are being blasé about is our bank details, our kid’s medical records, our confidential information. It is not exactly fair, but because it is schools data it makes it worse. Genghis Khan, our beloved ICO, would jump on even the slightest hint of a breach from the greatest of heights. Heads would roll at the Ministry.

So our little white paper is a humble attempt to educate. I know it’s not much but it is a start and I would appreciate any feedback you have, and any help you can give us to promote it to a wider audience. Meanwhile, back to Bonnie...

'And we'll only be making it right
'Cause we'll never be wrong together
We can take it to the end of the line
Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time (all of the time)
I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark
We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks
I really need you tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight
Forever's gonna start tonight'