According to Gartner, businesses must consider the disposal
costs for IT equipment as a line item when estimating the total
cost of ownership of a PC. On average, enterprises selling PCs
after three years of ownership receive 3% to 5% of the original
equipment price, but will still incur net disposal costs of between
$85 and $136 per PC, depending on the disposal method.
"Sale proceeds vary based on the quantity, method, vintage and
condition of the equipment being sold. However, an important
consideration is that PCs sold after four years have little
economic value and still incur disposal costs," said Frances
O'Brien, research director for Gartner.
These costs include such matters as disconnecting the computer
from the network, backing up and sanitising the hard drives and, in
some cases, reloading the operating system, testing the equipment
and processing payments. Administrative costs include paperwork,
packing, shipping and handling.
But for some businesses the cost is much higher. Incorrect
disposal of the equipment can result in a substantial regulatory
fine that will not do much for a company's bottom line. UK
companies have been let off lightly so far in this regard, but this
is going to change.
From no later than August 2005, the European Waste Electrical
and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive will become part of UK
law, banning the unauthorised dumping of this sort of waste, and
setting out proper disposal methods. It is likely that costs, and
fines, will increase as a result of this.
There are other hidden costs, exemplified by a recent sale of a
Blackberry PDA on eBay. The buyer got more than he bargained for –
confidential addresses, phone numbers and e-mails.
"Many enterprises have paid a high price in costs, regulatory
fines, bad publicity and even litigation when their PCs turned up
in landfills or third-world countries, or when confidential data
was recovered from hard drives that had not been properly
sanitized," said O'Brien.
"Nowhere is it specified [in US law] that if an enterprise
disposes its PCs in an environmentally unsafe manner that a certain
amount of money per PC will charged, but some enterprises claim
that they have paid as much as $200,000 in fines."
