A 10-Year History of Pioneering Responsible IT Asset Management Practices

In 1998, IT departments were focused on avoiding disaster when computer calendars changed from 1999 to 2000. E-waste and data security were barely on the radar.

Yet, with technology prices falling rapidly and a whole generation of systems displaced by Y2K, the need for responsible asset disposition had never been greater. And, the resources to deal with this wave of aging technology were virtually non-existent. The burden fell mostly on internal resources and local recyclers who lacked the scale and processes to responsibly handle e-waste.

Redemtech was founded to fill this void. From the beginning, company founder Robert Houghton espoused an approach to asset disposition based on two core principles:

1. E-waste must be processed in a way that ensures all materials are managed in the most responsible manner
2. Sound environmental and security practices are good for business

Those principles led us to pioneer a strict zero-landfill, zero-export, zero-incineration, zero-prison labor Environmental Policy for the management of e-waste. This has paid dividends for our clients and allowed us to consistently exceed the highest standards put forth by governments and other agencies.

Raising the Bar for E-Waste Accountability

	For example, when the Basel Action Network (BAN) created The Electronics Recyclers Pledge of Stewardship, its goal was to raise the standards by which e-waste was managed, particularly in terms of exporting waste to developing countries. Redemtech was among the charter signatories of the Pledge and was accepted without having to make any changes to our processes—they already exceeded those outlined in the Pledge.
	To ensure we maintained those high standards, Redemtech proactively applied for and achieved ISO 14001 certification for our Environmental Management System (EMS), providing independent third-party validation that we had the processes in place to support our policies. Redemtech was also the first to introduce a Web-based process automation tool for e-waste management. Our proprietary Retrac™ system ensures consistency across our national and international TCM Centers, providing automated value-appropriate processing of customers' assets to ensure security and optimum financial return.
	Most recently, Redemtech was among the first group of companies to achieve IDC’s Green Recycling and Asset Disposal for the Enterprise (G.R.A.D.E.) Certification. IDC independently evaluated the practices of 25 leading ITAD providers and Redemtech was one of only two non-OEMS to be accorded G.R.A.D.E. certification. Again, our processes didn’t just meet the G.R.A.D.E. standards—they exceeded them.

Pioneering a New Approach to Asset Disposition

• Introducing more comprehensive reporting that tracks materials through downstream processes and documents data erasure
• Raising awareness of off-network data security vulnerabilities and solutions
• Developing strategies and programs that enable asset disposition programs to have a positive impact on the bottom line

Redemtech’s Technology Change Management (TCM) services drive greater utilization of IT assets by reducing stockpiles of idle equipment, extending lifecycles, redeploying usable assets internally and optimizing remarketing revenue.

Extending Equipment Life and Optimizing Revenue

	Microsoft approved Redemtech as the first Community Microsoft Authorized Refurbisher (CMAR) in North America, enabling our TCM Centers to load authorized Windows operating systems and Microsoft Office suites for a $5 administration fee on computers and laptops being donated to charity.
	Redemtech also forged a relationship with Techsoup.org, which serves as a channel for non-profits, to deliver low-cost refurbished computers to its members. And we are the only ITAD provider to offer free asset recovery and recycling services to non-profits who receive donated computers from our clients, resolving any e-waste liability issues that do not transfer with ownership and ensuring proper disposal.
	Our focus on lifecycle extension and value optimization is supported by RedRabbitt.com, a Redemtech channel for remarketing computer assets. Redemtech also benefits from its relationship with Micro Center, which provides a retail outlet for used computers. When Microsoft expanded its Authorized Refurbisher (MAR) program to reduce the cost of Windows operating systems on refurbished computers, Redemtech was approved as a charter member of the program.

These initiatives are playing an important role in closing the digital divide and reducing the amount of equipment that would otherwise be scrapped, shipped overseas, stripped of valuable materials in unsafe condition and ultimately landfilled or incinerated.

Delivering Unparalleled Value

With the ability to offer benefits like that, we expect our next 10 years to be as exciting and productive as the first 10.

Thanks to all of our clients for helping us make a difference in your business—and in the world.

What can one company achieve in 10 years? Based on our experience, quite a lot. Our obsession with recordkeeping and accountability has enabled us to look back at the past decade and quantify the impact we’ve had in some very important areas.

Landfill that Wasn’t

We’ve processed hundreds of millions of pounds of electronic material during our history: keeping the equivalent of more than 16,000 Hummer H2’s out of our landfills.

Lighting up Dallas

For Earth Day, we quantified the environmental benefits of increased computer reuse in the U.S. The green impact our computer system reuse: generating energy savings to power more than 420,000 U.S. households for a year, or nearly enough electricity to power every household in Dallas for a year.

Smaller Carbon Footprint

Environmentally responsible computing also lowers carbon emissions. During our 10-year history, we’ve reduced greenhouse gases the equivalent of removing nearly 300,000 passenger cars from the road per year—just from the reuse of computer systems.

The Great Wall of Hazardous Waste

Our approach to asset management also reduces the amount of hazardous waste entering landfills: the equivalent of 3.8 million bricks of toxic material, or enough to recreate a 2.4 mile stretch of the Great Wall of China.

Safe to Go in the Water

Even an infinitesimal amount of mercury can contaminate acres of water, making fish unfit to eat. If the mercury we have successfully contained had been allowed to enter the eco-system, it would have been enough to contaminate every square mile of the Great Salt Lake—the largest salt lake in the western hemisphere—nearly two times over. The amount of mercury is also equal to that contained in 2,100 fever thermometers.

Erasing a World of Data

Our certified data security processes have erased nearly 5.8 trillion pages worth of data: equivalent to removing each page of every document in the Library of Congress, the world’s largest library, more than 3,425 times. If these sheets of paper filled with the data we’ve erased were stacked end-to-end, they would circle the Earth 40,226 times.