The Greening of the CIO - ' Data Disposal ' (
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Data Disposal
Proper disposal, including recycling, isn't just about keeping the bad chemicals from poisoning little bunnies. It's also a matter of information security. Wiping disks clean or destroying them is a critical part of the job. "Securing data is as important to a company as being EPA compliant," says Bostwick. PCdisposal.com has started shipping its clients lockable carts that hold more than 50 PCs in order to ensure that computers and their contents don't disappear in transit. "If a piece of equipment still works, there is nothing better for the environment than putting it in the hands of someone who will use it. But if your data is still on it, you could be in serious trouble," he adds.
IBM's recycling program takes in about 22,000 used machines a week, from PCs to high-end servers. The business began with IBM's huge leasing business, in which product lifecycle is an inherent concern, and expanded to include equipment owned outright by companies when customers began asking for the service. Last year, only 1.4 percent of the "end-of-life product" taken in by IBM made it to the landfill. "There is a huge opportunity to recycle and resell, but when things do reach the end of their useful lives, you need to have processing capabilities," says Dan Ransdell, head of IBM's recycling program. The company has 60 sites around the world that dispose of used equipment—after extracting any precious metals from them.
"There is social value to recycling and reuse, but in most of my conversations with customers there is no economic credit given for social values," Ransdell says. "It makes good business sense to properly dispose of these widgets." Such practical issues, along with some measure of environmental consciousness, will change the way IT executives approach their jobs, he adds. "I think the green ideas will come into IT and will become a higher and higher priority for CIOs, and a lot of it will be driven by legislation and compliance. Manufacturers are being driven that way already, and CIOs will follow."
Braunstein says the Green CIO is coming soon. "Vendors are increasingly designing their products with end-of-life in mind," he says. "Standards are coming for things like the time it takes for the casing on a piece of cable to biodegrade: the more biodegradable, and the easier to pull apart at end of life, the more cost efficient. You'll be hearing CEOs get up at shareholder meetings and talk about this stuff. The CIOs will catch on as this stuff goes mainstream."
