Environmental Impact Reporting

One of the most common questions that has been asked of ITAD providers recently is how a company’s environmental impact is reported and measured. Being given assurances that all electronics are disposed of in a responsible manner is an easy task, but showing the metrics is another thing entirely. Reputable ITAD providers should be able to easily measure environmental categories such as toxic metal reductions, CO2 emissions and precious metals recovered.

CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere are at their highest levels in over 800,000 years. Globally we emit over 36 billion tonnes of CO2 annually and this continues to increase. The United States alone has contributed most to global CO2 emissions, accounting for an estimated 25% of cumulative emissions worldwide. CO2 emissions have far-ranging environmental and health impacts, causing smog and air pollution as well as diseases to wildlife and humans. Recycling or re-purposing IT assets can greatly reduce the CO2 emissions that are created from manufacturing the most basic components to a completed piece of IT equipment.

Toxic metals include cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, and lithium. E-waste has the potential to contain any number of toxic metals that can have a significant negative impact. Despite the legal ramifications companies can incur for disposing of assets with toxic metals inappropriately, this is unfortunately still a common occurrence. When these metals come into contact with the environment, they can pollute groundwater, air and soil. Precious metals that can be recovered from end-of-life IT equipment reduces the need for virgin materials to produce new devices.

DMD Systems Recovery Inc. provides comprehensive environmental impact reporting covering all of the outlined areas and more. DMD Systems is committed to focus materials throughout the recycling chain to final disposition with due diligence to protect our environment, health and safety.