Is smashing it up really necessary – much?

Posted on January 14, 2011 by admin

When disposing of old computers, it’s always good practice to be conscious of any personal or business related data left on the drives.  Investigative journalist, Peter Klein highlights the dangers of this in his ‘Ghana – Digital Dumping Ground’ documentary. In this instance, illegally shipped e-waste destined for Africa is not only disposed of using dangerously archaic methods but at the same time, the hard-drives of the computers – predominantly corporate and originating from countless western countries – are stripped and the data is sold to the highest bidder.  Skip to 5:01 in the video.

The data cleansing technique mentioned is to physically remove the hard-drive and smash it to pieces with a hammer, which is one hell of a way to sanitize the drive, however, as an experienced IT profession sporting my green hat, I challenge this advice.

Firstly, how many home computer users actually know what a non-external hard drive looks like, let alone how to actually remove it from its housed casing?  Technicians within an IT department shouldn’t have a problem doing this, and I can see the importance of maintaining data integrity but the knock-on effect does facilitate the remaining components winding up in the dump and further contributing to unnecessary e-waste.  Smashing the drive effectively renders the computer useless as the chances of it being donated or resold will be seriously limited.  Replacing the hard drive in a computer of more than  2-3 years old may also result in compatibility issues, so if you are planning on donating, reselling or returning it as part of a stewardship program, then I suggest you keep the drive intact and just format it using the below technique.

Killdisk is a free application which wipes Windows, Mac, Linux hard drive several times over, conforming to the pre-2007, US government-industrial security, data sanitizing techniques. Hardcore geeks will argue that the data can still be extracted from a Killdisk formatted drive which is true to a degree but based on the expensive tools and specific environmental conditions, the likelihood that your petty data thief in Ghana or Guiyu has the ability to do this is limited.  From a Government / Corporate perspective, highly confidential information should be stored on a secured cloud and only be cached locally, an argument for another day of course.

So in a nutshell – is smashing a hard drive really necessary in light of our current, global e-waste issue?  I say no, let’s format where we can and reduce our consumption by donating our older computers to the numerous organisations and charities crying out for computer infrastructure.

Think Green

Alan



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Technology Consumption Much?

Posted on December 12, 2010 by admin

The following post is not directly related to e-waste.  Instead, I have recorded my media consumption over a 24 hour period which highlights the significant role technology and new media play in my daily life.  After taking a look at the below, maybe you also share some similarities with your own media habits?

Electronics, whether it’s computers, iPods, televisions, mobile phones act as the platform for most new media so by examining your own consumption, closely we can start to understand that our social rituals are now a major factor in driving electronic manufacturing.

Before you read the below, something to keep in mind is that I work within the IT industry and I also study part-time, so my findings may be a little higher than most.

7:30am: Woken by my 3rd party, iPhone alarm application.  This not only acts as an alarm clock but also feeds the previous evening’s worth of Twitter updates.  I scan through the tweets and take note of the BBC news and social media headlines from Mashable.

7:35am: Check personal email on my iPhone, read several front page Reddit headlines.

8:30am: During my drive to the office, I listened to an .mp3 audio track (Smashing Pumpkins) on my iPhone.  This album was illegally obtained when I recently downloaded a colleague’s mp3 collection.

8:55am: Arrived at the office and checked voicemails, received one from yesterday afternoon.

9:00am:  Docked work laptop and began reading, responding and sorting the previous afternoon and evenings work emails.  I also was required to access my companies Intranet and file server.

9:30am:  2 short, work related phone calls from landline. 9:35am

9:45am: Logged into the Curtin LMS to see if my last unit’s assignment was marked.

10:00am: Briefly checked Twitter updates and personal email from my iPhone.

10:30am: Worked through office emails and accessed services on my company’s network.

11:00am: Text message exchange with a friend.

11:05am: Briefly checked Twitter updates and posted update / checked personal email from my iPhone.

11:10am: Worked through office emails and accessed services on my company’s network.

11:45am: Browsed SMH.com.au for news updates.

12:00pm: Radio playing in background of café, flicked through a newspaper waiting for lunch order.

12:15pm: Briefly checked Twitter updates and personal email from my iPhone.

1:30pm: Work related conference call.

2:35pm: Briefly checked Twitter updates and personal email from my iPhone.

3:10pm: During break, logged on to BBC and SMH website to read the latest news articles.

3:15pm: Worked through office emails and accessed services on my company’s network.

4:20pm: Briefly checked Twitter updates and personal email from my iPhone.

5:00pm: Logged on to Curtin LMS website and completed my weekly readings.

6:45pm: Various Internet sites browsed such as YouTube, ASX, Reddit.  I actively searched for content relating to Wikileaks.

7:30pm:  During the drive home, I listened to a university lecture saved on my iPhone.

8:20pm:  Checked my Twitter updates, personal email and posted a comment.

9:00pm: Watched 2 episodes of S1 Battlestar Galatica over dinner on my media centre, the content was obtained from a torrent websites.

11:00pm: Briefly checked Twitter updates and personal email from my iPhone.

Summary:

Internet & Intranet: (Personal and work related):  Connected via my iPhone or laptop (during work hours), for approximately 15 hours.

Traditional TV: none.

Media Centre (digital video): 2 hours.

Traditional Print:  Less than 15 minutes.

Radio: Less than 15 minutes.

Electronic Audio: Approximately 1 hour

My summary demonstrates quite excessive media consumption habits by highlighting the close relationship between technology and the individual.  Our social nature facilitates new and effective ways to communicate, publish and absorb information and it is one of the driving forces behind new technology innovations.  As new technology continues to be developed, the key is to ensure we apply just as much research into their safe disposal, utilizing the renewable materials through stewardship schemes or recycling, rather than just dumping it into the rubbish when the next model is released.

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So what exactly is ISO 14001 (AU986A-QC-EC)?

Posted on December 6, 2010 by admin

So what exactly is ISO 14001 (AU986A-QC-EC)?

I’ve noticed that many Green focused, eCyclers label themselves as ISO 14001 certified – so what exactly does this mean?

The intention of ISO 14001 is to provide a framework and strategic approach to the organisation’s environmental policy.  It is not to be confused with a certification that lays out a set of specific environmental or performance targets, instead it enables organisations to:

  • Identify and control the environmental impact of their activities, products or services, and
  • Improve its environmental performance continually
  • Implement a systematic approach to setting environmental objectives and targets, to achieving these and to demonstrating that they have been achieved.

The certification requires renewal every 3 years.

In conjunction with the above certification, you would expect an eCycler to additionally follow The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, a community which set collection, recycling and recovery targets for all electronic goods and other product steward pledges, to ensure they are truly green in practice as well as on paper

References

http://www.iso.org/iso/iso_14000_essentials

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32002L0096:EN:NOT

Alan Beazley

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In reply to Blackwell’s ’10 Tips to Green IT’

Posted on November 15, 2010 by admin

Blackwell shares some great tips which encourage green IT in the workplace

My comments are in response to Tip 6 – ‘Keeping IT Equipment Longer’ and can be found below.

“For organisations and enterprises, engage with your finance or sourcing department and request the implementation a company-wide policy that depreciates computers (laptops and workstations) over 4 years rather than 2 or 3.  Most computers only come with a 3 year warranty period, so if any computers are damaged or unrepairable in their 4th year, their replacement can be brought forward on an ad hoc basis.  It is probably best to keep this quiet from your users as you may experience equipment being accidently dropped or damaged during its 4th year.

Careful consideration should also be exercised when purchasing new computers.  The aim is to ensure their specifications (RAM, processor, disk drive.) will still meet the minimum requirements of software 3-4 years down the track.  One way to achieve this is to over spec their configuration during the purchasing phase, this of course will come at a higher unit cost, but at least the machines will most likely last the distance and minimize the chance of application incompatibilities during their lifecycle.

Lastly, it is also a good practice to prohibit new computers being cascaded down the organisational chain.  For example, a new employee is given a brand new computer by IT.  The manager of the employee requests the computer for themselves because it’s ‘brand new’.  The manager’s existing computer is then handed down to the next in line and so on and so on.  By prohibiting cascading, a computer usage will be maximised by the one user / role for the entire depreciation period”

Think Green,

Alan

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Our toxic backyard

Posted on October 24, 2010 by admin

Much focus towards e-waste relates to its illegal exportation to the third-world and the dangerous, archaic techniques used to break it down for its precious metals, but this is really only a facet of the overall e-waste problem, in Australia’s case, our attention also needs to be focused within our own backyard.

Karen Barlow’s article titled, “Landfills ‘busting at seams’ with e-waste“, examines the current state of our Australian landfills and highlights their over capacity, with e-waste being the significant contributor.    The recent estimate suggests that over 250 million tons of e-waste is in landfill, and although many of the components within these electronic devices are toxic, there are no Australian laws which make throwing it out with the regular rubbish illegal.

The Government’s product stewardship program announced in 2009 has yet to commence; and with non-profits such as ‘Reverse Garbage’ quietly drowning due to unrealistically high demands, you can begin to understand what facilitated the state of our landfills.

With the introduction of 3D TV’s, the rise in consumption of smart-phones, tablet computers and personal computers; the demand we have as a society for the latest technologies is not going to suddenly change overnight, therefore pressure needs to be applied to the Government to ensure the product stewardship scheme goes ahead as planned and legislation is put in place which supports fairness to the producers and suppliers of electronic goods who add recycling as a service to their products once they reach the end of their usable life.

What Barlow fails to mention in her article is the Australian Government’s Computer Technologies for Schools (CTFS) initiative which coordinates the collection of surplus computers, in most cases, at no cost and donates them to disadvantaged schools throughout Australia.  Many corporates replace their fleet of computers once they have completely depreciated, regardless of condition, yet many of these devices can still be utilized, provided they meet CTFS’s relatively low, minimum standards.   Although this service does not cater for televisions or other non-computer related electronic devices, it at least has the potential to extend the lives of computers and in-turn, minimize premature e-waste from ending up in landfills.   The product stewardship program will not be the sole answer to e-waste management, what we need are more services like CTFS to work in conjunction and alongside it, that and maybe a change in our excessive consumption habits.

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