Electronic waste or “E-waste” means obsolete, broken, or unwanted electronic equipment permanently discarded by the authorized person. Electronic equipment refers to and includes equipment which is dependent on electric current in order to operate or electromagnetic fields in order to operate and contains a hard drive or significant electronic component.
NetApp generates more than 2 million pounds of e-waste a year globally, and there are three important reasons why we have a global program to manage this material in a responsible way – our culture of sustainability, our compliance obligations and data protection concerns.
E-waste may contain hazardous and toxic substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium and other heavy metals which pose a risk to human health and the environment if not disposed of and handled properly.
As a good corporate citizen, we want to collect and dispose of all of this in responsible manner to minimize our environmental footprint.
NetApp is subject to a whole range of regulations and some states and countries have unique requirements for the management of e-waste. For example, some jurisdictions classify e-waste as hazardous waste, which requires special handling and storage.
In addition, under the EU’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulation, the producer is responsible for the collection and disposal of any e-waste sold in a customer in Europe. Similarly in India, we have an “External Producer Responsibility” EPR Plan. Having a global program allows us to meet all our regulatory obligations.
Much of the e-waste generated by NetApp and our customers contains sensitive data. To minimize the chance that this information can fall into the wrong hands, we need to manage how this waste is collected and handled.
A global program helps us ensure that any potential sensitive data is securely wiped according to industry best practices and that we have full traceability on what we ensure that sensitive data is wiped from all drives that are resold and that any other drives and important components are destroyed.
NetApp’s Sustainability team manages e-waste collected from a number of different sources:
All requests for e-waste pickups can be submitted via our portal, email or informing through Toll Free number. If you have an e-waste pick up to coordinate but are unsure what program your e-waste falls into or you have other questions, please contact the e-waste team at ng-ewaste@netapp.com
India Toll Free 1800 572 8469