Month: February 2020

Going Green = More Green

Going green can help your business in more ways than one. Making changes can seem overwhelming, but just small changes can make a difference.  Many of these changes will also help your businesses bottom line. So what are you waiting for?

How can it save me money? 

We understand that as a business owner your time is limited. However depending on the size of your business, you could save a substantial amount of money by just making a couple of small changes.

• Switch to eco-friendly lighting – LED bulbs can use up to 30% less energy and last longer than your average bulb.
• Use eco-friendly paper or go paperless – If you are using paper processes this can save money and time. If you are not ready to go paperless, you can reduce paper use by printing double sided and asking your team to take messages on scrap paper.
• Reusable Products – depending on your industry you can implement using reusable products. If you are in retail, you can offer reusable bags or if you are in an office simply offer your team a reusable bottle.
• Working from home – Allowing your team to work from home can save money heating and powering your office space. Also educating everyone to turn off their appliances before leaving the office will help cut costs too.
• Recycle your WEEE 

Tax Incentives 

The government are trying to become carbon neutral by 2030. This will rely on businesses making changes to help make the change. Therefore they are applying tax incentives to encourage businesses to operate in an eco-friendly way.

First Year Allowances 

This means that if you buy an asset for your business that is eco-friendly you can claim 100% capital allowances within its first year. This allows you to deduct the full cost of the item from your profits before tax. Items that qualify can be; Cars with low CO2 emissions, energy saving equipment, water saving equipment, plant and machinery for gas refusing stations, new zero-emission goods vehicles and gas, biogas and hydrogen refilling equipment. To find out more about these allowances take a look at HMRC’s website.

Electric Cars

We are expecting a high increase in clients purchasing electric cars this year due to the new benefit in kind rates. The rate for the tax year 6 April 2019 – 2020 is at 16% however the benefit in kind for the tax year 6 April 2020 to 5 April 2021 is just 2%. That could be a huge saving. Take a look at our blog on the Jaguar i-pace. 

Employee Retention 

Employees are putting more and more value into sustainability. By making an effort to become eco-friendly you could both attract team members and keep them. It also creates a great team moral, as everyone can work together to achieve a goal.

Brand Reputation and Publicity 

Brand awareness is becoming increasingly important. Publicising the changes your business is making to become eco-freindly can only be a good thing.

For example the shoe brand Toms uses the tag line ‘every purchase has a purpose’ and they give £1 away for every £3 of their profits.  This idea was not only very generous, but it has helped develop and create their brand.

Recycle your WEEE

Technology is a rapidly advancing sector, with new developments and devices being made all the time. This leads to a fast turnaround of electronic equipment, but what happens to our old tech? Unfortunately, the amount of electronic technology that we throw away is also growing.

WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) is the term used to define redundant or faulty electronic equipment waste produced within the UK and includes most products that have a plug or need a battery. It is estimated that the UK discards 2 million tonnes of WEEE a year.

The WEEE directive 2013 regulations define how WEEE needs to be handled, transported, refurbished and recycled. One of the key objectives of the WEEE regulations is to reduce the amount of WEEE that goes into our landfills, and a good way of doing this is through recycling schemes.

WEEE for Business Owners

Whether you are a sole trader or a large limited company, you will more than likely have at least one computer that you use to help run your business, and probably one for personal use as well. In order to keep up with the advancements in technology, it is necessary to upgrade these computers to newer models from time to time. This means at some point you will be left with an old machine to dispose of, or several old machines if you have a larger company with staff all wanting newer technology. However, in many areas, including Haverhill and West Suffolk, you should not throw away electric and electronic items in the regular waste. So how do you dispose of one or multiple computer systems legally and ethically in 2020?

One way of doing this is by selling your old laptops and computers to a recycling scheme that will either resell or recycle your old machines. Computer system recycling is an important part of The Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE); a governmental initiative designed to reduce the amounts of waste reaching landfill. Recycling your laptops and computers is one of the most important aspects of the directive as:

• Systems contain toxic materials & substances deemed unsuitable for landfill.
• The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive (RoHS) has been brought it to tackle landfill pollution.
• Computer system recycling is the dismantling and raw material recycling of laptop parts. Nothing goes to landfill and nothing is incinerated in the process.

If your laptop is in good condition without any cosmetic damage, it will have the highest value, however computers in worse condition can also have reasonable value. Different parts and components inside your computers such as CPU and memory can still hold value, even if the machine is very old or damaged.

This option is great because it reduces the amount of electronic equipment ending up in landfill, and you will also get the bonus of being paid for your unwanted tech.

Recycle Your Tec

Our friends at Recycle Your Tec can recycle your redundant computer systems for free, complying with the strict information security and environmental standards in the I.T recycling industry.

They offer a service which includes collection via a dedicated courier, and data wiping or destruction. All hard drives are either wiped or destroyed onsite depending on your preference and full documentation is provided to confirm the safe removal or destruction of your sensitive data.

Your unwanted systems will be carefully & properly recycled without the need to worry about pollution and permanent environmental damage. In most cases the items are reused by giving them a new home,  but some items may also have their working parts stripped out and used to repair other systems.

www.recycleyourtec.com

What about my data?

Where possible, you should reset all laptops and desktops to the default factory settings before sending them to be recycled. In theory this will leave only the operating system and pre-installed programs on the device.

It is essential to make sure you have backed up all the files you want to keep before you begin this process. Store them safely on one or more types of storage such as an external hard drive, your new computer or online cloud storage.

At Recycle You Tec your data will be completely wiped using software from White Canyon, which is certified to the standard of the US and in accordance with GDPR regulations. Full documentation is provided to confirm complete sanitation of the data held on your hard drives.

Good Service and Good for the Environment

Recycle Your Tec aim to provide first class service to individuals looking to recycle used technology, be it coming from you personally, a school, business or charity and turning them into cash donations quickly, while removing all data on the technology to comply with current data protection and environmental regulations. They accept WEEE such as laptops, PCs, tables, mobile phones and more.

• Courier Collection.
• Highest standard data wiping and destruction.
• Fast payment for items.
• Full certification.
• Highest value for items recycled.
• NO minimum disposal amount, all quantity no matter the size is accepted.
• Fully accredited by the Environmental Agency.
• T11 license holder (highest accreditation that any limited company can have that isn’t a recycling centre, such as like council-run tips)

By recycling these items not only do you give them a second home or use, but it’s good for our environment too by keeping toxic waste out of our landfills.

Better still, your business can make some money which can be put towards next year’s budget or help with buying replacement stock. Gone are the days of just giving old items away and making do with what your budget allows, sell unwanted items to us and upgrade to better technology.

Please feel free to contact Gary Ward on Gary@RecycleYourTec.com and on 01440 710700 to book a collection today.