On Thursday, February 12th, I interviewed Bob Houghton, the CEO of Redemtech. We talked about how they came to be leaders in the responsible disposal of e-waste, their Sustainable Computing Assessment, how they came to be one of only five ITAD (IT asset disposal) providers to make IDC’s GRADE and how being green has helped their company karma.
Redemtech was founded in July 1996. Their original role was “the enterprise solution to technology recycling.” Located in Columbus, Ohio, environmental sustainability is at the core of Redemtech’s business. Redemtech implemented their zero export of e-waste policy in 2000 while trying to get the business of California’s largest HMO, Kaiser Permanente. Jim Regan of Kaiser said that if Redemtech wanted their business, they would have to promise not to ship any e-waste overseas. So Redemtech agreed, and then set about trying to figure out how to fulfill that promise. “We chose then to completely change the company and drew a hard line that cannot be crossed-zero landfill, zero exporting.” Redemtech was the first company to draw a line in the sand about zero export of e-waste.
The Sustainable Computing Assessment, sponsored by GreenerComputing, is a tool for helping IT measure how “green” they currently are. It is a “yardstick that allows companies to baseline a benchmark of where they are, and how they can begin to make improvements in sustainability.” The tool is a detailed, fifteen minute survey that provides high level graphic results coupled with textual findings and provides some low-hanging fruit, or first steps, companies can take to become more IT sustainable. Practice advisors provide even more detailed advice on how to green their IT. It puts sustainability in quantitative terms. Any company can take the assessment for free. The practice advisors can help non-Redemtech customers for a billable fee. Ultimately, the Sustainable Computing Initiative is a tool to help Redemtech show companies how they can save them money.
In November 2008, the Basel Action Network (BAN) and the Electronics TakeBack Coalition joined with 32 electronics recyclers in the US and Canada to announce that the e-Stewards program called the Electronics Recycler’s Pledge of True Stewardship was soon to be fully accredited and certified. Redemtech was one of the original companies to join the program, and they found that the environmental standards they already had in place even exceeded those of the e-Stewards program. Redemtech is now helping BAN with its auditing guidelines for analyzing companies who want to take the e-Stewards Pledge.
The Interactive Data Corporation (IDC) introduced a program in July 2008 called Green Recycling and Asset Disposal for the Enterprise (GRADE). The GRADE certification program identifies ITAD providers that meet at least 75% of a preset list of 34 ITAD-related functions and tasks, taking into account application offerings, onsite services, logistics, in-plant processing and post treatment. Of the 25 ITAD providers IDC reviewed since starting work on the certification four years ago, only five companies made the GRADE: Dell, HP, IBM, Redemtech and Intechra. Bob says that he believes that IDC’s GRADE and BAN’s e-Stewards Pledge are good benchmarks for measuring a vendor’s commitment to responsible recycling and disposal of e-waste.
Redemtech is passionate about environmental sustainability. “The resources we use should be as replenishable as possible.” They believe that financial sustainability, environmental sustainability and social responsibility all go together. They have a partnership with TechSoup Global to provide IT hardware and software (through Microsoft) to non-profits, schools and charitable organizations. Redemtech provides the computer with the software ($5 per license), full support from Microsoft for the software, and help desk support and recycling services when the equipment has reached the end of its useful lifecycle.
More businesses are turning to companies like Redemtech to help them dispose of their e-waste more securely and responsibly because they find that they cannot do it alone. Complexity can defeat a good, green IT initiative, and that is where Redemtech’s Sustainable Computing Assessment and their expertise come in. If companies want to attract environmentally conscious customers, and they don’t want to get caught irresponsibly disposing of IT assets, they are going to have to start taking their e-waste into account when planning green IT initiatives.
Redemtech has found that their green practices have helped their employees become more personally engaged. The karma of the company changed when they switched over to the zero e-waste policy. Employees found that the company’s mission was parallel with their own mission. Redemtech became a better place to work as the good karma spread throughout the organization.
For more information about Redemtech, visit their web site at http://www.redemtech.com.
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