Green Information Technology and Corporate Sustainability Programs

e-Stewards Standard Delivers a Measurable Green IT Framework

Enterprise IT shops regularly buy, deploy, refresh and dispose hardware and software in the normal course of business. Information technology (IT) leaders and managers normally do it without thinking much about it. The new hardware arrives, then the old stuff gets handed down or disposed.

But as vast amounts of electronic waste accumulate, causing long term environmental effects, it's more important for all of us, and our companies, to pay more attention to what happens to our old computers, monitors, network gear and other computing equipment that becomes outdated as the march of better technology continues.

There are toxins in the materials used in today's computer hardware and that means that unless they are properly disposed of, they can cause pollution and health problems when incorrectly disposed. However, the processes to properly dispose computing equipment are often not well understood.

The environmental group, The Basel Action Network (BAN), unveiled what it says is a global first – an electronic waste (e-waste) recycler certification program that is backed by environmental groups and corporations such as Bank of America, Samsung, Wells Fargo and Capitol One Financial Corp.

This program can provide advice, instruction and even certification to help IT managers do the right thing when disposing of old IT equipment. There's a current problem in that many companies pay other companies to dispose their old electronics but don't really know if it's being done properly. That can mean that electronics are illegally dumped or shipped around the globe to countries where environmental laws and regulations are less stringent so they can be disposed of more easily or less expensively. The end result is often just creating major pollution problems in other parts of the world, while endangering people in those countries due to the toxic materials inherent to e-waste.

The new BAN program creates what is referred to as the "e-Stewards Standard," which "calls for recyclers to eliminate exports of hazardous e-wastes to developing countries, to halt the dumping of such wastes in municipal landfills or incinerators, and to cease the use of captive prison populations to manage toxic e-wastes," according to the group. The program also includes rules that call for strict protection of customer's private or personal data and occupational health safeguards to ensure that workers in recycling plants are not exposed to toxic dusts and fumes.

This is exactly the kind of structured program that is needed to help companies become better stewards of the environment while also helping to keep toxic materials out of our air, water and soil, said Carol Baroudi, a green IT analyst and the author of the book, "Green IT for Dummies."

"It is a problem we have as a society in general, this problem with electronic waste," Baroudi explains. "We are all going to have to become more aware of the environmental impacts with 6 billion people on the planet. In information technology, it's the whole environmental sustainability piece."

Several IT brands are taking a leadership role and providing much needed sponsorship, including Apple, IBM, Cisco Systems, Microsoft and Symantec, Baroudi commented, by consciously being more environmentally responsible in their business methods, and promoting green IT to their customers and business partners. "They are first looking at product design because a lot of the problems in the end game have to do with the designs and materials" used in today's hardware and electronics. "Apple has actually shown that you can create, build and sell a laptop without toxins in it."

"IBM is putting muscle behind creating IT products that can be recycled more easily at the end of their useful lives, and that won't take gas masks to take them apart," she said.

One of the key problems with today's e-waste disposal systems is that many are there in name only, without safeguards and checks and balances to be sure that disposal is being done correctly, Baroudi said.

Today's BAN announcement is important, she said, because it calls for auditing of these processes across the facilities by independent third parties to be sure that the rules are properly followed, she said. "There had been pledges before, but this is really the teeth," Baroudi said.

45 electronics recyclers are listed as sponsors in the BAN program, with more likely to join as consumers reward responsible companies and suppliers.

We have only one mother earth to occupy and we need to do a better job of protecting the planet. IT professionals have an opportunity to lead in an effort that provide savings to the environment and their company's bottom line.