Letter to the Editor - Computer Weekly

Letter to the Editor – Computer Weekly

Dear Sir,

It was interesting to see the Green Party get involved in the discussion surrounding Windows Vista upgrade furore (Green Party warns Vista upgrade will cause hardware obsolesce, 06 Feb 07). Whilst the debate will rage for some time as to what the business benefits are for organisations to conduct wholesale upgrades to the new OS, I expect that despite the best efforts of green lobbyists, far less attention will fall upon the environmental repercussions of the software upgrade.

Furthermore, it is inevitable that a large percentage of hardware made redundant by the upgrade will lie in disuse but still be retained by organisations either because of the slim chance a component may come in useful one day or out of sheer laziness as disposal is a chore? For most organisations a significant, and costly, amount of office space is taken up with dusty bits of kit that are highly unlikely to ever see the light to day and this will only increase as Vista quickly takes hold. What is often not considered is that some it may have value on the second user market. If this is the case, why keep it

For most companies the problem is inertia combined with a lack of clear responsibility. With such equipment now valueless on the balance sheet, there is no drive from finance to recoup any outstanding investment; while the IT Manager has a deluge of far more pressing and critical issues to address.

Organisations need to evolve beyond the haphazard strategies for waste disposal. The simple fact of the matter is that ethical disposal of old IT equipment can not only support an organisation’s environmental strategy but also release significant value. By proactively embracing organisations that pledge to reuse and recycle 100% of equipment and undertaking regular, routine disposal organisations can actually realise quantifiable returns on redundant assets whilst simultaneously supporting environmental goals.

Yours faithfully

Graham Nye,
Managing Director,
Chiltern IT