Recycling A to ZIT & Computer Equipment

Disposing of unwanted IT and computer equipment

This page provides information on correctly disposing of unwanted or broken IT and computer equipment. This service is provided by the University’s contractor, CCL North Ltd.

Type of equipment

When disposing post-13th August 2005 IT and computer equipment, contact the original producer. They should provide a free of charge take back service. The same applies if you are disposing of this equipment and replacing this with new equipment.

You should also check whether you are paying an upfront charge for the future disposal of new items when you purchase them.

When disposing of pre-13th August 2005 IT and computer equipment, consider whether you are also purchasing new, replacement equipment. If you are, you can request that the producer of the unwanted equipment organises a free-of-charge take-back service. If you are not purchasing equivalent replacement products, you will be responsible for disposing of this equipment following the procedure described below.

You should also check whether you are paying an upfront charge for the disposal of this equipment when you purchase new items.

Overview

The key features of this service are summarised below:

  • There are no central uplift or collection points. All materials must be uplifted directly from your department. This is irrespective of the quantity involved.
  • Each University department should order their requirements directly from the University’s approved contractor on an “as and when required” basis.
  • The approved contractor will provide collection within three days if your department requests an urgent uplift. However, where the contractor can arrange collections from multiple locations more cost-effectively, they must inform your department, within one working day, of a collection date within two weeks (10 working days) of the request.
  • The contractor will normally make waste collections during regular business hours, i.e. Monday to Friday between 9am and 5pm.

Making a collection request

The University’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) contractor is CCL North Ltd. Departments can contact CCL North directly for collections. You can also contact them to discuss any larger collections or equipment.

When calling or emailing for collections, the following details should be included:

  • list of items to be collected
  • a contact name, phone number and email address
  • room/floor number, building address
  • any specific access requirements.

If the disposal is for larger and bespoke pieces of kit, attaching photographs and sending them in as a query to CCL North is advised. Costs for WEEE collections are managed under a central budget.

Please note: an additional charge is made to the University for collections of under 30 items. Where practical, please store material for collection until there are more than 30 items. Or, liaise with other departments/FMs to collate materials for collection to reduce costs to the University.

Contact details of the approved contractor

Email admin@cclnorth.com or call to arrange an uplift on 01294278844.

Storage arrangements

IT and computer equipment contain hazardous waste. They should therefore be securely stored to avoid theft, damage and environmental impacts, as well as to avoid health and safety risks. Undamaged equipment will also be more likely to attract a rebate.

Reporting requirements

The approved contractor has committed to recovering a minimum of 100% of IT and computer equipment collected by them. Regular reports will be submitted to the University’s Estates department. These will describe the number and weight of units collected and the percentage re-used, recycled or thermally treated.

Security and demonstration of compliance

The approved contractor has a comprehensive data erasure tool to cover the following:

  • Full-disk sanitisation: certified data erasure does not report full erasure unless the entire disk has been accessed.
  • Full disclosure and reporting: data erasure reports contain information such as erasure date, hard drive serial number, specifics about the disk, technician name, results/errors concerning the erasure process and a validation certificate once the procedure is completed. Certified data erasure software provides information on sectors it cannot overwrite.
  • Targeted data erasure: a comprehensive data erasure tool can target the removal of sensitive data when it is no longer needed.
  • Ability to meet standards and address regulations.

High-profile leaks of sensitive and confidential information have resulted in regulations like the Data Protection Act 2018 and GDPR. These define the legal basis for handling information and govern the protection of personal data. In addition to such regulations and guidelines, many regional & international Government and industry standards exist for the software-based overwriting process. These include the US Department of Defence (DoD) and CESG standards in the UK. The approved contractor’s service systems and procedures comply with all such regulations and directives.

Software and data wiping methodologies used include:

  • The recognised software product “Wipe Drive”. Wipe Drive conforms to US DoD sanitising standard 5220.22M. The standard states that “Non-removable rigid or hard disks must be sanitised for reuse by overwriting all addressable locations with a character, its compliment then a random character and verify.”
  • As standard, CLL North performs three data wiping passes per hard disk (the DoD Standard). This may be increased depending on the sensitivity of the data.
  • Quality audit checks and verifications are carried out on completed units. The University will be provided with detailed reports describing this.