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Appointments to the new WEEE Advisory Board (WAB)

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 10:08:25 +0000

One of the new Members is our own Terry Maguire.
2007/115
3 December 2007

Malcolm Wicks, Minister for Energy, has announced the appointment of the Chair, Peter Calliafas, and 12 members of a new WEEE Advisory Body (WAB), a public body established to provide advice to Government on the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive and the UK WEEE Regulations.

Mr Wicks said: “More and more electrical goods are being thrown out each year, with around two million tonnes in the UK alone. The Government is committed to ensure that more of this waste is recycled, and not just consigned to the scrap heap.
“Since the UK adopted the WEEE directive a great deal has been achieved, by making sure more waste is collected for treatment and recovery. The establishment of the advisory body will ensure we receive expert advice and to help us build on this initial success. And I very much look forward to working with them in the future.”

WAB Chairman Peter Calliafas said:
I feel immensely honoured and excited to have been appointed to this advisory body as its Chair. There are likely to be both opportunities and challenges in our journey ahead. As such, I am looking forward to meeting my fellow colleagues in the very near future and to building an effective and action orientated team that is focused on the priority objectives. Of equal importance to me personally, is to gain an early understanding of the successes and the relevant issues in the WEEE sector. In my view, there is only one way to achieve this and that is through engagement with all stakeholders and visits to key sites in order to appreciate the operational processes first hand.
The WAB members bring with them a wealth of experience and expertise in their respective fields.

In addition to the Chair, membership of the Board is as follows:-

Terry Maguire � Chairman & Managing Director, Computer Remarketing Services
Julie-Ann Adams - Joint Managing Director, M Baker Recycling Ltd
Joy Boyce � Head of Corporate Environmental Affairs, Fujitsu Services
Phil Conran � General Manager Recycling Development, BIFFA Waste Services
Jonathan Gorman � Regulatory Policy Manager, Tesco Stores
Gary Griffiths � Environmental & Quality Systems Manager, RDC
John Holbrow � non-executive Chairman, Pollution Monitors Ltd
Leigh Holloway � Environmental Consultant, eco3
Kirstie McIntyre � Environmental Takeback Compliance Manager, Hewlett Packard
John Morrell � Environmental consultant, Oakdene Hollins
Philip Morton � Chief Executive Officer, REPIC
Mark Shelton � Waste Promotions Manager, Donarbon Waste Management

Environment Agency approval

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 10:32:00 +0100

We are pleased to confirm that CRS was registered as an Approved Authorised Treatment Facility (AATF) by the Environment Agency on 9th July 2007 Approval Number WEE/HF0003ZS/ATF.

Under the new regulations introduced in the Summer only Authorised Treatment Facilities registered with the Environment Agency are permitted to manage the disposal of electronic equipment.

The new regulations are very complex and vary according to the type of equipment, when purchased and in the case of business whether being replaced on a "like for like" basis. In addition for business users the commercial terms agreed with the original supplier will also have a bearing.

If you need advice please call.

We are all sick of Spam, what can we do?

Tue, 21 Aug 2007 16:06:18 +0100

POPFile is an automatic mail classification tool. Once properly set up and trained, it will scan all email as it arrives and classify it based on your training. You can give it a simple job, like separating out junk e-mail, or a complicated one-like filing mail into a dozen folders. Think of it as a personal assistant for your inbox.
We use it and it does work, the bonus is that it is Freeware and costs nothing. Install and start training it, after a short time it becomes more and more acurate. Use your rules in the Email client that you use to file or delete your mail. Assign Spam to the Deleted box. Try it here PopFile

Recycled desktop systems are the way forward - The Inquirer

Tue, 01 May 2007 10:44:44 +0100

First INQpressions CRS Recycled Optiplex GX2800, HP Vectra desktop PCs

WE WENT AND SNIFFED around the premises of Milton Keynes' Computer Remarketing Services a while ago.

Impressed, we were, with the industrious little outfit of computer recyclers, cleaning up discarded, functional IT kit and passing it on.

We asked boss, Terry Maguire, to ship us a couple of PC systems to have a fiddle with. One running Windows XP and run running an implementation of Linux. He did. And we have duly fiddled. And mighty pleased with the merchandise we are too.

CRS sent us a Dell desktop Optiplex system, bragging a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 and running Windows XP Professional. We've also been running a similar HP Pentium 4 based system set up to dual boot to either Windows XP or Mandriva Linux.

The systems arrived impressively packaged up in much of their original cardboard. The PCs themselves are compact desktop systems, similarly sized. The Dell wins on looks while both already look decidedly retro. The HP wins on weight and feels like it's made of solid steel.

See the full Article at the Inquirer.

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=39292

Computer Remarketing on The Inquirer

Thu, 01 Mar 2007 15:12:53 +0000

Old PCs find new homes in re-use venture

The greening of Terry Maguire

By Paul Hales: Wednesday 28 February 2007, 16:23

HOW MANY PERSONAL COMPUTERS have been built and sold so far? How many of them are still in use? How many have been dumped in landfill sites or exported and dumped in China?

No, we don't know either. Millions, that's for sure.

But with the realisation that the world's resources won't last for ever and that man over the past 100 years has pretty well trashed the globe he inhabits, even chip makers have begun flaunting their green credentials. Well, when it suits them.

And as manufacturers and sellers of electronic kit know, the regulators are after them and want them to clean up after themselves.

The UK government has finally published is guide to complying with the EU Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). The 80-page document has appeared in a pdf here. These obligations on "producers" of electronic goods will make startling reading for some companies. And, while there has been plenty of wrangling over the proposals, the onus on the producers of the kit to ensure it is cleaned up and disposed of properly is generally seen as a good thing by consumers.

We are mentioned on the Inquirer site. See the full article at this link http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37797

Boots Fined

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 14:57:15 +0000

Well it didn't take long for an example to be made of someone. Boots Retail Ireland are the first company in the EU to be prosecuted under the new WEEE regulations. The UK regulations are in the process of being rolled out and it's a pound to the proverbial penny that the Environment Agency will be looking for a high profile example to put through the UK courts.

More here http://www.rte.ie/business/2006/0124/boots.html

The Eagle has landed.......

Wed, 13 Dec 2006 10:58:59 +0000

or to be more precise the WEEE Regulations were laid before parliament on 12th December 2006 and become effective on 2nd January 2007. So the talking is over and now it gets serious. Producers/Importers/Distributors/Retailers/Re-sellers/Users of IT will all be impacted. If you are about to purchase some IT equipment for business use you need to understand who takes responsibility for disposal at end of life. It may seem a while away but it will be a future cost and it should be part of the commercial discussions from now on with all suppliers. Some large organisations have already taken a policy decision that they will assume end of life responsibility to avoid any confusion. The IT market research company Gartner have calculated that $50 should be allowed for in the total cost of owvership calculations to cover disposal costs so ignor it at your peril.

WEEE Regulations latest

Wed, 22 Nov 2006 10:28:21 +0000

Latest news on the introduction of the long awaited rules covering disposal of IT equipment is that regulations will be laid before parliament on 12th December, passing into law by 2nd January. Despite some last minute conversations with industry government is confident that they are firmly on track to hit these dates. Just how much panic this will cause when companies in the IT sector return after the Christmas break remains to be seen. Everone else will start panicking in April and July as the regulatione begin to bite!

What does it take to make a PC ?

Thu, 26 Oct 2006 09:30:03 +0100

Well according to the UN University (UNU) about 1.8 tonnes of material. The UNU research discovered that to produce a PC and it's CRT display it takes 240Kgs of fossil fuel, this is some 10 times the weight of the computer itself. This is very high compared with other goods. Cars and refrigerators use just their own weight during production. Additionally 22Kgs. of chemicals are used in the PC many of which have now been identified as hazardous to human health. Not to mention the 1500Kgs. of water also used during the various production processes. Not surprisingly the UNU concludes the environmental impacts associated with using fossil fuels, hazardous chemicals and water are significant and "deserve attention".

In a later publication UNU goes on to say "Extending the usable life is a very effective way of reducing all types of burdens, but relatively few older PCs are being resold, refurbished or recycled - most are stored and eventually end up in landfills."

Real World Computing (from PC Pro Magazine)

Tue, 08 Aug 2006 11:58:21 +0100

Choosing workstations

20060726 [PC Pro]

Steve Cassidy demonstrates that a little bit of schizophrenia can be a good thing when it comes to organising your network

Let's turn our attention to the fate of the humble workstation. The life of a modern PC on a network is a sharply bipolar one, with, it seems, little or no middle ground. At one end of the spectrum, you have the totally locked-down, Stalinised clone PC with no individuality, its users barely able to distinguish one PC from another, the sole reflex twitch of freedom being a sad little Vicky Pollard effigy stuck to the monitor with Blu-Tack. At the other end, you have the fearless road warrior's laptop, secured only by his fingerprint, which is free to roam courtesy of at least four distinct connection methods - wired and wireless Ethernet, Bluetooth and infrared - and which is backed up once a year, if that often, using a chipped coffee mug full of USB flash drives...

It's the disasters that can befall the latter category that feed the paranoia which creates the former. Most of the nasty things that imperil laptops or "self-maintained" PCs, such as being infected, stolen or dropped down the stairs, never trouble those corporate lockdown machines. And most of the actions that are prohibited on lockdown systems merely annoy or hinder legitimate users rather than confer any defence against the problems they actually tend to suffer from.