(re) blog: dialogue with Redemtech

How Industry Consolidation Should Refocus Our Attention on Recycling Sustainability

Not long ago, a newly formed company raised dot-com millions to purchase and roll-up about 30 U.S. recycling companies. The holding company was publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange. Earlier, I had been asked to oversee five scrap metal and plastic recycling companies in California. Once a privately held company, it was sold to the aforementioned holding company. As a consultant to the prior owner, I knew the company and its processes very well.

Sarbanes-Oxley for Smart People

There’s a dummy standing in the lobby of a library in a moderately sized city in the Midwest. He wants people to read up on familiar topics so they can’t be considered a stiff with a plastic complexion like him.

Refurbished Computer Initiative: Training Teens Who Train Elders

One of Redemtech’s many initiatives is a strategic relationship with TechSoup Global, a California-based nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide computer knowledge and resources to other nonprofit and non-government organizations (NGOs) in North America and around the globe. We help them choose, implement and sustain the essential technology needed to serve their communities.

E-Stewardship Taking Responsibility in the Information Age

While producing a corporate video some years ago, I conducted a series of interviews with a diverse group of employees of a major telecom company across a five-state region stretching from New Jersey to Illinois. To arrange the interviews, I worked with a variety of community relations managers who escorted me from facility to facility so I could set up my camera and ask a few questions. But only once did this involve a giant telephone that would fit comfortably in the palm of King Kong’s paw.

Sierra Club How Green Is Your PC Quiz

The Sierra Club has come out with a surprisingly fun and informative little quiz on green PCs. Some of the more interesting questions include:

• Every wonder how much energy laptops use vs desktop PC?
• How much energy a screensaver saves?
• How much more power computer processors use as they get more powerful?
• How much lifetime energy consumption of a PC occurs before you buy it?
• Whether it’s more energy efficient to shut down and restart your computer during the day or just leaving it running?

To take the full Sierra Club quiz, find it here. See how well you do on the quiz!

60 Minutes Hits the Toxic Jackpot

The CBS News program 60 Minutes just ran a hard-hitting segment titled The Electronic Wasteland on the toxic e-waste trade between the United States and China. It was classic 60 Minutes, featuring human suffering, an apparently unscrupulous businessman, the Chinese underworld, and an intrepid reporter—Scott Pelley—exposing it all. For insiders in the electronics recycling industry, this is an old story. A majority of recyclers increase their profits by shipping hard-to-recycle commodities to buyers in developing countries where the lack of worker safety and environmental regulations have created an e-waste gold rush. Tonight, CBS News became the latest company to profit from this toxic trade.

Beyond Green: Roadmap to Sustainable Computing

Thanks to everyone who attended our presentation at the recent Gartner IT Financial, Procurement & Asset Management Summit in San Diego. Our material was based on a new IDC whitepaper by David Daoud, Beyond Power: IT's Roadmap to Sustainable Computing. We ran a little long, as always happens when people with passion for a topic are given a podium, so I promised to do our Q&A online.

The Facts Behind Depreciation Rates for Used IT Equipment

In the IT industry, it’s long since become conventional wisdom that used PCs and other related technology equipment can depreciate as much as 6% a month, at least early in its lifecycle.