What is E-Waste?

Here at LoopCR we talk a lot about being environmentally friendly, but what type of waste do we prevent? It’s E-Waste.

E-waste is old and discarded electronic devices or devices nearing their end of shelf life. For example, desktops, laptops, stereos, and printers are all examples of E-Waste that can be collected by us. We take these electronics for refurbishment, reuse, resale and for environmental salvage. 

Why it is a problem?

According to the WEEE forum in 2019, there have been an estimated 50 million tonnes of E-Waste generated globally. Half of this is personal devices such as computers, screens, smartphones, tablets and TVs.

Only 20% of global E-Waste is recycled each year, which means that 40 million tonnes of E-Waste are either placed in a landfill, burned or illegally traded and treated in a sub-standard way and this is despite 66% of the world’s population being covered by E-Waste legislation.

This results in the huge loss of valuable and critical raw materials from the supply chain and causes serious health, environmental and societal issues through illegal shipments of waste to developing countries.

You may have read in the news recently that China and many South East Asian countries have banned all E-Waste imports. Poor recycling practices which are not environmentally friendly such as burning cables to get the copper and gold out of devices places people’s health at risk through exposure to toxic elements.

The World Health organisation lists harmful materials from E-Waste that causes health risks from direct contact. Materials like Lead, Cadmium, Chromium can be inhaled when burned. Moreover, toxic materials can be retained in the environment entering soil, water and food.

Children are especially vulnerable to health risks as they are still developing their intake of food, air and water are much higher compared to their weight and height, increasing the risk of toxic chemicals being absorbed into the body.

What is the UK situation?

Despite a ban on E-Waste exports to developing countries, 1.3 million tonnes of undocumented goods are exported from the EU each year. In February, the UK was ranked as the worst offender in the EU (source) by the Basel Action Network.

Following the report’s findings, the Environment Agency closed four illegal waste operators in the UK. Illegal E-Waste operations are a serious issue and may have diverted as much as £1billion per annum from legitimate businesses. The UK Environment Agency has invested over £65m to help tackle this problem since 2011.

The UK produces 24.9kg of E-Waste per person, higher than the EU average of 17.7kg. Electronic waste in the UK is managed under the EU’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive and The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulations 2013.

These are calculated based on the WEEE Directive’s target of 65% of the average annual weight of electrical and electronic equipment placed on the market over the previous three years. The target for 2019 has been set at 550,577 tonnes, a 12% increase on 2018 levels.

The UK missed its WEEE collection target by 45,000 tonnes in 2018. The UK Government launched an inquiry and concluded that as consumer demand rises, and costs decrease people are buying more electronic equipment and not recycling it correctly.

There are no actual official stats for e-waste that is collected in the UK only estimates. 

Awareness of education issues

One of the main issues surrounding E-Waste is awareness. Many people are unaware of how to dispose of it correctly, or that recycling should be the last thing you do with E-Waste.

While the general public may not fully aware of the growing issues with E-Waste but in recent years companies have been implementing processes to retain the precious metals from their own E-Waste. Some are creating machines to break down LCD TVs because manually taking it apart is too labour intensive.

New technology is designed each year but the technology to efficiently recycle new tech does not exist. The most important thing for an individual or company to take away from this blog is that recycling should be a last resort, components inside most electronic devices are reusable.

If you have an old phone like an Apple or Samsung, you can trade them in on the brands’ website. Even if your phone isn’t worth anything, they will often take it for free to reuse.

Disposing of Electronic Waste

If you have a computer such as a MacBook or Windows Desktop that is being replaced but is still working condition, then it could be sold or passed on to a charity or to a specialist company (hey that’s us!) that is able to refurbish it and sell it on.

If you have a large quantity of non-working kit, we can collect it from your premises and take it away for you. For smaller quantities, you could take it to a local recycling site. Most local authorities now have WEEE recycling schemes that will accept a wide variety of kit.

Safe Data Disposal

While it’s important that your business’s E-Waste is disposed of safely from a physical point of view, it’s also vital to deal with any data that it may contain. While it’s good to get rid of your old equipment, you don’t want to let your company’s and customer’s data go along with it.

Not only computers hold sensitive data

Remember that it isn’t only office computers that may contain sensitive data. If your company owns old external hard drives, these need to be erased before disposal too.

Don’t forget equipment such as routers that may contain the access settings for your network. On these, you should perform a factory reset to ensure that all your information is safely removed. The same applies to solid-state devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Remove any memory or SIM cards and perform a factory reset on the device before disposing of it. Here at LoopCR, we have data wiping servers so even if you don’t wipe your devices we will.

Any smart devices that have been set up to access your network – TVs, digital assistants, IP security cameras, etc – also need to have their memories reset so that you don’t inadvertently give away the address and passwords for your network.

The problem of E-Waste is only likely to get bigger in future, it’s therefore important for us as small businesses to ensure that we all do our bit to dispose of our old IT and electrical equipment safely and responsibly.

How we can help?

We provide free collections of all types of unwanted IT and electrical equipment for reuse or responsible recycling. All personal data is securely and professionally destroyed before either process begins, in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulations.

Common items we collect include:

• Desktops
• Laptops
• Monitors
• Printers
• Keyboards and mice
• Cables
• UPS and UPS batteries

We can also collect some forms of non-IT equipment if advised in advance. Our service to customers in Kent and East Sussex is completely free.

What LoopCR will require in order to complete a collection:

• Company/school name and address
• Contact name
• Phone number
• Email address (in order to send documents)
• Preferred date(s) for the collection to take place
• An indication of the quantity/type of items we will be collecting

We will supply a Waste Transfer Note upon collection of the equipment. An inventory and Data Destruction Certificate will be sent via email within 48 hours to confirm the completion of secure professional wiping of all equipment.

Contact Us to arrange a free collection

Microsoft announced a reminder at the beginning of 2019 that extended support for their Windows 7 operating system will end on the 14^th, January 2020. Mainstream support of Windows 7 had already ended on January 13^th, 2015. But what does this mean for you?

Windows 7 is reportedly still used on 39% of all computers despite being nearly 10 years old. The end of mainstream support in 2015 meant that the operating system was no longer being improved with updates to its main systems, that are not related to reliability or security.

The end of extended support in 2020 means that Microsoft will end support for security and reliability patches. This means that any device using Windows 7 will no longer have security updates or technical support.  

All warranties will be void and Microsoft will no longer accept requests for new design features and design changes. The device will become vulnerable to security issues as the operating system will not be updated against newer types of malicious software.

Over time Microsoft will also discontinue software and services related to Windows 7. Internet Backgammon and Internet Checkers are to be discontinued as well as the Windows Media Centre.

Windows 10 updates have removed various unpopular programs to free up space and increase performance, but this does mean that your old software might not be compatible with the new operating system and you won’t be able to use it.  

Microsoft products are supported for ten years, the first five years products are given mainstream support but after five years mainstream support ends. After ten years extended support ends.

This happened with Windows XP. Windows XP was an unsecured operating system, to begin with but Microsoft support helped patch out security issues. One of the main reasons Microsoft retired Windows XP was because it had so many vulnerabilities.

Windows 7 follows a similar blueprint as a Microsoft system as does Windows 10, which means that hackers will keep trying to find vulnerabilities in similar bits of code. Experts have said that once support for Windows 10 ends within 10 minutes hackers are likely to find vulnerabilities and compromise an operating system’s security.

Malware can easily spread on obsolete platforms as known vulnerabilities on the systems are not going to be fixed. If you own a business that primarily uses devices with Windows 7 then your data is potentially at risk. This means that hackers are more likely to find vulnerabilities on your devices with Windows 7 and they may try and take sensitive customer information or cause other sorts of issues.

Windows support is an absolute must for any device running Microsoft software. In 2017 the NHS suffered the largest ransomware cyber-attack in history. When malicious WannaCry software developed by the NSA and stolen by hackers were installed onto NHS networks through email phishing. Computers with up to date windows security patches were able to prevent the ransomware from affecting their systems but NHS devices with out of date software were infected.

This led to all files at some local hospitals being unable to be opened as they had been encrypted by an outside source. Which then demanded payment in the form of bitcoin. This cost the NHS £92 million. The cyber-attack was conducted on a global scale infecting more than 200,000 computers in over 150 countries. The ransomware was designed to infect older windows operating systems that hadn’t been updated.

To stop yourself from becoming a victim of cybercrime you should always keep your operating system up to date and have the latest security patches. Windows updates can be irritating but it is better to be safe than sorry.

Keeping Windows up to date and installing additional security software like firewalls and other anti-virus software will help sure up your device’s defences. Also, keep in mind that once Windows 7 extended support ends all warranties are void and all customer support will stop from most companies not just Microsoft. Which means that it will either cost you a lot of money to restore your systems or there will be no one to help you.

What should you do once support for Windows 7 ends?

One of the most straight forward choices would be to upgrade to Windows 10. Upgrading to Windows 10 is relatively simple as your device will most likely be a Windows machine. However, if your device is too old it might not be compatible with your newer software and some of your favourite applications may no longer be supported but this will also be the case if you change the operating system.

Here are the minimum specifications to run Windows 10. Your hardware must at least reach these benchmarks for the operating system to run. Please note that the meeting the minimum specs will cause significant stability issues and affect computer performance.

• Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor or SoC
• RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) for 32-bit or 2 GB for 64-bit
• Hard disk space: 16 GB for 32-bit OS 20 GB for 64-bit OS
• Graphics card: DirectX 9 or later with WDDM 1.0 driver
• Display: 800 x 600 resolution

Oddly enough you can pay to have Windows 7 support extended if you really can’t live without it. However, Microsoft has not yet released a cost. The extension will allow users on Windows 7 Professional and Windows 7 Enterprise to extend security updates till January 2023.

Remember Windows 10 mainstream support end on 13^th October 2020 and extended support ends on 14^th October 2025. Microsoft will presumably have released a new operating system by then and it will be time to update your systems once again.

All Microsoft products have ten years of full support, so if you want your networks to be safe then you must update to a newer system. Just because Windows 7 is still available doesn’t mean you should still use it.

Additional reading:
Microsoft has an FAQ support page that can be found here https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/help/4057281/windows-7-support-will-end-on-january-14-2020

Windows 7 support ends on January on 2020
The National Cyber Security Centre has some advice on the end of Windows 7 support https://www.ncsc.gov.uk/blog-post/one-year-left-for-windows-7-support

Choosing a laptop can be difficult. There are many different models and manufacturers all around the world all vying for your money and attention. New top of the range laptops can be very expensive. You could save money on second-hand or refurbished laptops and get some powerful technology at discounted prices.

What is a Refurbished Laptop?

A refurbished laptop is a laptop that has been restored to factory setting, data wiped, malfunctioning parts replaced and cleaned. Sometimes, refurbished laptops sometimes come with warranties but not always.

Second-hand laptops tend to be sold in their current condition, as such, the condition of second-hand laptops can vary greatly from spare parts to never used.

Refurbished laptops are usually sold by a manufacturer, retailer or reseller like us. Most refurbished laptops when posted to an online store will be graded by quality. The grading scale will vary according to the online site or manufacturer but should give you a good indication of the quality of the laptop.

Remember if you are unsure of the products quality or the reliability of the seller the best thing you can do is to not add anything to your cart. If you have any doubts about a purchase do not buy it and ask questions first.

How Much Should I Expect to Pay?

Refurbished laptops are considerably cheaper than brand new laptops which means that the amount of money you spend will be a lot less.

However, your budget still needs to be considered. It may be a worthwhile investment in time and money depending on the amount you are willing to spend and what you use the laptop for i.e. work, studying, creative suite or general web use.

Refurbished Laptops Under £200

Laptops under £200 even when brand new are generally not the most powerful machines on the market unless they have been upgraded. Most new laptops bought from a manufacturer are unlikely to have been upgraded or customised.

Laptops below the £200 price range tend to have smaller and slower processors than more expensive models. Many laptops within the £200 range have only around 4GB RAM making them only good for web browsing or for word processing.

Having too many windows open or too many tasks operating at the same time will cause them to slow down considerably. For example, a Lenovo Ideapad 110s only has 2GB RAM and cannot run too many tasks without having to close other programs.

Making it unsuitable for any complicated tasks such as gaming or video editing. A refurbished laptop with the same specs can be bought way below the £200 mark and have the same performance as a brand new one.

Refurbished Laptops Under £400

Refurbished Laptops under £400 can vary greatly in the specs. Most notably the RAM can vary between 4GB RAM to 8GB RAM. Brand new laptops around this price will have more standard specs and their RAM will mostly vary between 2GB RAM to 4GB RAM.

Only rarely will you find an 8GB RAM brand new laptop around this price as Laptops with around 8GB RAM tend to cost slightly more as they are newer generations of laptop with newer hardware.

New Laptops around the £400 price range will have higher grade processors like Intel Pentium, Core i3 and AMD Ryzen 3. Refurbished laptops specs vary so widely you can often find older laptops around this price with high specs.

It’s important to look at the specs offered as well as the price as you might find a real bargain. For example, we found a Lenovo ThinkPad T440s for £399 on one site but £499 on another with the same specs.

Refurbished Laptops Under £600

Refurbished laptops for less than £600 have the most varied range of specs. If you have more than £600 to spend on a laptop, the best advice we can give you is to just buy a new laptop, unless you are trying to buy a refurbished MacBook you can find great alternatives below £600.

A refurbished laptop below £600 can be very versatile. 8GB RAM can easily be found at this price and occasionally more RAM can be found if you keep your eye out.

Processors like the Intel core i5 or AMD Ryzen 5 are common around this price range making a laptop with these kinds of specs perfect for photo editing and video editing for creative tasks.

Some higher spec refurbished laptops around this price can support some games depending their graphics cards. Look for laptops with a thin and light design. Most will come with a HD screen and SSD.

What Operating System Should I Choose?

Operating Systems are the brain of all computers and laptops and selecting the right OS for your needs can help narrow down the search for a refurbished laptop.

There are many pros and cons to different operating systems, and each are suited for different tasks. Here are three popular operating systems with a short list of pros and cons:

Windows OS

Windows is the most popular operating system. A suitable all rounder with a mix of great programs and compatibility. Windows 10 is the most recent operating system from Microsoft.

MacOS Mojave

Mac Operating system is Apple’s operating system. It’s fast, easy to use and well built. It is, however, expensive and works well with other Apple applications.

More suited to creative tasks but not gaming. MacOS is soon to be replaced by the MacOS Catalina bring iPad apps over to Mac and new accessibility features.

Chrome OS

Chrome OS is an operating system developed by Google that uses Google Chrome as its main user interface. It primarily supports web applications over software installed on a laptop. Chromebooks that run Chrome OS are cheap, most data are stored on cloud servers.

How Much RAM Do I Need?

RAM or Random Access Memory is the hardware that allows information to be stored and retrieved. RAM is the main memory on the laptop or desktop, the faster and larger it is the quicker it can read stored data and how many tasks can run at one time.

RAM is one of the more important things to look for in a refurbished laptop. As the size of the RAM often affects its daily running and ease of use. Depending on what you use your laptop for there are certain amount of RAM that would be more useful to you.

Buying a laptop with a large amount of RAM may be a waste of money. If you buy more RAM then you need there will be no net benefit for you. Buying a laptop with too little RAM and the laptop will be to slow and sluggish on certain tasks.

Most laptops come with a standard 8GB of RAM, with lower end machines and Chromebooks holding 4GB. High end laptops between 16GB and 32GB for the more powerful machines. As mentioned earlier Chromebooks mainly operate using the cloud and have very little storage space, they usually have only around 4GB of RAM, making them perfect for word processing and browsing the web.

With 4GB of RAM you can download a few apps of the Google play store so your Chromebook can have a little more functionality.

Windows and MacBooks, on the other hand might need a little more punch, 8GB of RAM is great for these laptops running these operating systems. If you plan on doing difficult and taxing tasks on your laptop, like creative work or gaming you might want to up your RAM to 16GB.

If you really need to you can upgrade to 32GB of RAM but you might as well get a desktop as you’ll have more freedom for upgrades and usability.

Refurbished Grades

One of the easier things to look for when buying a refurbished device of any kind is the grading. Grades shown on refurbished items tell you how worn and used they are.

Refurbished computers usually have three categories. Simply A, B or C. Some retailers use different grades like Gold, Silver and Bronze, but they are generally similar and follow the same grading system.

Grade A

Grade A are the best of the best, these refurbished devices are barely touched. Usually with little to no marks on them. It’s likely you would buy a grade a laptop in its original box with all its accessories, with the computer itself being in factory settings.

It’s as close to new as new gets. Some retailers, notably Apple and Dell sell refurbished devices in excellent condition with the main difference being a lower price.

Grade B

Grade B laptops are much more worn and used. The damage will mainly be on the case or cover, it is unlikely that the wear and tear will affect the computers performance. It’s most likely that the original box and any accompanying accessories will not be included with the device.

Grade B devices will be much cheaper than grade A but if you are eagle-eyed or just plain lucky you could find a grade B computer at a similar standard as grade A.

Grade C

Grade C refurbished devices are the lowest tier you can buy before the device is essentially spare parts. Most likely you won’t get the original accessories, but you’ll still get a charger.

As the lowest grade, grade C is the cheapest and will probably be out fitted with low grade specs and hardware.

It’s important to remember that some online sites don’t use grades and rely solely on using price to entice people to buy. Remember to check the rating or the seller and check the specs and pictures on the listing.

You could find a laptop with a cheap price but end up with an old laptop with out of date software. Remember if you are unsure about a purchase. Do not buy it and shop around.

Summary

Overall, there are a lot of factors to be considered when purchasing a refurbished laptop. A few are mentioned here that can give you a good chance at finding a good deal.

There is always a risk when buying refurbished laptops and some deals are too good to be true. With a bit of research and online window shopping you could easily find a decent refurbished laptop for you. Finding a laptop that fits your need is the most important part of the process, you should focus on your own requirements rather than price.

There is no point in buying a £100 Chromebook if you want to edit videos and no reason to buy a £400 MacBook if you just want to browse the web.

Make sure you fully read the listings and check the photos of the laptop before you add it to your basket. You can also message the seller and ask about specific items if you want more information. Happy hunting!  

LoopCR will be a key partner of the Green School Awards across schools in the South East this year.

The awards will recognise green schemes that are generated by a school and carried out by pupils on-site, at home, or in the wider community. The full list of categories encompasses Green Travel to School and Road Safety; Energy Conservation; Nature Conservation; Air Pollution; Recycling; and Health and Wellbeing. Each year, entries range from walking buses, kitchen gardens, forest schools, and recycling initiatives to air pollution monitoring schemes, cycling campaigns, healthy eating drives, and more.

As a key partner, we were invited to the event’s official September launch at the Ashford International Hotel. Our Director, Richard Langshaw met the remaining partnership of organisations who share our passion for the environment and empowering young people.

Richard Langshaw, Director of LoopCR Ltd said,

The reason we are supporting the Green School Awards is to encourage children to look if they actually need the latest model of phone or whether they can make do for another six months or so with the one they’ve currently got. The idea being to get them to start thinking about the environment that they live in so they can make informed decisions themselves to maintain the environment in the future.

LoopCR Ltd specialise in computer reuse and recycling. LoopCR Ltd is a community interest company and frequently sponsor green activities, school talks and school employability events to help students learn about the environment and working life.

District winners and overall champions will be announced at an awards ceremony staged by the KM Charity Team (part of Inspire Schools) in February at the Ashford International Hotel.

Joining LoopCR Ltd at the awards will be Medway Council, Ethical Earth Company, East Kent Recycling, Golding Vision, NCS Technology, Streetspace, London Borough of Bexley, East Sussex County Council and Kent County Council.

Find out more at: https://loopcr.uk/ and www.GreenSchoolAwards.co.uk #GreenSchoolAwards

This special awards ceremony was to show appreciation and recognition for all organisations and individuals that help to deliver fundraising and educational events. A total of 90 awards were presented across the evening.

KM Charity Team chief executive Simon Dolby said:

The support of these people and organisations is absolutely vital to the work we do promoting child health and educational performance and well-being across the south-east. I’m so pleased to be able to say thank you to all of these partners with these awards.

Simon Dolby