Recycling in the green building and real estate sector

Posted on February 20, 2012 by bharris

Mark your calendars for March 30! Visit BCD Electro and over 200 other exhibitors at CrestEXPO – THE cross-sector commercial real estate trade show of Dallas/Fort Worth. The show will be Friday, March 30 from 9:30 AM to 5 PM at the Dallas Convention Center (Hall C).

Network with local property managers, architects, engineers, interior designers, brokers, appraisers and more, attend one of the many continuing education opportunities, participate in one of the auctions, association events, and more – all at crestEXPO 2012. Think BIG!

Thousands have already pre-registered to attend. If you have not done so already, visit http://www.crestexpo.com/attend and sign up to attend for free before the end of February. They’ll have your badge waiting for you at the registration counter.

If you’d like more information on exhibiting, very few booths remain. Contact CrestEXPO at nick@crestexpo.com or 972.803.4185.

Please contact Bob Harris at BCD Electro for more information on electronic recycling.
bharris@bcdelectro.com
214.630.4298

Ready to recycle your BYOD??

Posted on January 18, 2012 by bharris

As technology purchases pick up steam in 2012 from the cash conservation mindset brought on by the 2009 recession, dusting off those old RFP’s and RFQ’s may not take into account the progress in IT hardware that has taken place in the last 2 or 3 years. There are many new improvements, including more easily repairable and recyclable components and assembly techniques.

Another new development is BYOD (bring your own device), which has started to catch on. Employees are using their own smartphones and tablets, and companies are necessarily changing some old methods to keep up with this trend. New device and use tracking software is popping up also. Companies are realizing the savings by employees buying their own device, and are embracing BYOD in one way by negotiating discount and coupon programs with suppliers in the employees behalf.

A great way to use the BYOD trend is to promote recycling of old devices by your employees. In addition to promoting sustainability and corporate responsibility, this can also bring cash which can be used by the company or the employees who are participating. This also helps avoid data breach issues when using a good electronics recycling company.

Written by Bob Harris
President, BCD Electro
call BCD Electro at 214.630.4298 for more information
www.bcdelectro.com
bharris@bcdelectro.com

Street Prices For Hard Drives Spike As Supply Contracts

Posted on November 27, 2011 by bharris

By now you must have heard of the ongoing havoc being caused by flooding in Thailand. It’s claimed a few product launches already; Nikon and Sony have both had to delay shipment of new cameras, among others. But the single tech industry that seems to be hit the hardest is hard drive manufacturers. Many factories have been flooded and the production of drives has been seriously impeded.
Due to large inventories being kept by most retailers, the effect of the floods on a commodity like HDDs was bound to be delayed. And now we’re starting to see major rises in the prices of common drives like a Seagate 2TB. Street prices in Japan have risen by some measurements by 200% or more just in the last couple weeks.
Akiba, shows that the cheapest options for 2TB drives have gone up as much as 400% since late October. And indeed, at American retailers many cheap drives are sold out or selling far above the prices from a few months back.
The prices could come back down as quickly as they went up (some, you can see, are already bouncing back down, having overshot their optimum price), but it has to be a terrifying time to be in the business. A company that produces custom servers, for instance, is put in the uncomfortable position of taking a loss on sales or passing the cost on to their customers.
In essence, it’s the same kind of crunch you see when the stock of any commodity is significantly reduced: LCD panels or printer ink or bananas would have similar ripple effects. Still, storage is an essential part of the PC and consumer electronics world, and everyone involved is hoping for a speedy recovery effort in Thailand. With the waters only just beginning to recede and damage widespread and serious, some are estimating a year or more before the factories can return to pre-flood productivity levels.

If you have excess inventory in hard drives, or computers with drives that need to be recycled in your organization. Now is a good time to move them, the prices are up and demand is high. I would be happy to work with you all to get the best return possible.

For more information, contact BCD Electro at 214.630.4298

BCD Electro – Technology Recycled – www.bcdelectro.com bharris@bcdelectro.com

Originally posted by Devin Coldewey

Data breach protection…..a greener approach

Posted on October 22, 2011 by bharris

The National Association for Information Destruction (NAID), reported that top executives from 300 firms ranked data security as one of their top critical issues. Environmental concerns are leading them to consider reuse of IT assets they might once have destroyed. Other organizations lease IT equipment. Both scenarios require methods to securely remove confidential data without physically destroying drives. Recyclers and refurbishers looking to win customers that have data breach concerns, and, are focused on going green, are using NIST approved and certified data erasure to present a safe option for disk sanitization that outperforms many other disk wiping utilities.

NIST 800-88 data erasure overwrites information while leaving the disk operable….. preserving assets and the environment. Many hard drives have hidden and locked areas that potentially include remapped sectors, which standard multi wipe data wiping freeware and less sophisticated overwriting tools cannot access or erase. The NIST method offers advantages for electronics recyclers and their customers.

Studies indicate that the life energy use of a computer is mostly manufacturing (81 percent). Operation is 19 percent. Extending a hard drives usable life by data wiping and reuse is a valid approach to reducing energy consumption associated with manufacturing and destruction.

NIST 800-88 erasure standards using Linux based reporting tools can be most effective because they will erase data in remapped sectors. A broader range of support for network hardware, such as enterprise servers, storage area network (SAN) environments and fiber channel disks can be had with this method as well.

Most importantly, the capability of NIST 800-88 with Linux based automated and serialized reporting can keep track of the drives that have have sanitized. This method also provides a validation certificate showing the overwriting procedure was completed successfully or not. Companies that rely on their electronics recycler for data breach protection must insist on auditable data breach protection.

The cost for data erasure is minimal, data breaches cost companies $5 million on average, plus damage to corporate reputation and regulatory non-compliance.

Call BCD Electro at 214 630 4298 for more information or email bharris@bcdelectro.com

Cloud computing…the latest disruptive technology

Posted on October 21, 2011 by bharris

We are in another period of disruptive technology in IT with Cloud Computing. Although seldom accurately described during their disruptive periods, these disruptive transitions usually bring with them wonderful technologies.

Many see The Cloud as a bothersome challenge to the status quo, but the period after this initial disruption of the established order in my opinion, will become the status quo.
At CTIA – The Wireless Association, Cisco CTO Padmasree Warrior said that by 2013, the number of devices connected to the Internet will reach 1 trillion – up from 500 million in 2007. According to Warrior, “we’re heading into the Internet of Things.”

The outcome of this is hard to predict. In the past, even people in the know of these types of occurrences have been off base with their predictions. I have seen a few of these disruptive technology events in my 30 years at BCD Electro. About 1981, the IBM PC, and the early clones caused a shortage in some very cheap TTL chips that sent prices soaring 10 times or more. Independent distributors of surplus chips were the heroes of the day when they were able to uncover and deliver some of these chips that were in allocation.

This time the disruption may have a broader scope, some are predicting an effect on the whole IT supply chain. There may be very few companies, be they large or small, that can hold prices and compete against open markets such as are being created today. Jevon’s Paradox shows that cost reductions in goods and services, actually increases the amount spent in total. Is this the Laffer curve of spending? This will produce a large quantity of legacy IT equipment and resources for environmentally conscientious recycling may be squeezed.

In ITAD, or IT Asset Disposal, like many other environmentally conscious service businesses, price has become easily researched by online searching. Other considerations are more difficult to determine such as data breach issues, timeliness of service, downstream accountability and zero landfill policy.

In a post cloud migration world, there will be considerable challenges in the recycling of legacy IT systems. Data wiping correctly to avoid data breach issues as well as cost of maintenance and power requirements if left installed come to mind…..what other considerations can you think of?

Outsourcing a company’s ITAD, including IT recycling, data wiping and data destruction, desinstalling legacy equipment and other post cloud migration activities to a cheaper provider who specializes in a recycling platform, is a good way for CIO’s to save budget money that can be spent on more core competent activities.

Call BCD Electro at 214.630.4298 or visit our website at www.bcdelectro.com for more information.

BCD Electro’s GO GREEN Electronic Recycling Event October 15th, 2011 10AM-2PM Richardson, TX

Posted on October 13, 2011 by thalsell

Dallas,Texasresidents and surrounding communities will have the chance to get rid of that old computer at BCD Electro’s “GO GREEN Recycling Event!” Saturday, October 15th! Save the date!

We are teaming up with Farmers Insurance Group – Bob Williams, to provide the “Go Green Recycling Event” which allows attendees to dispose of electronic equipment responsibly at no cost!

When: Saturday – October 15th

Time: 10AM-2PM

Where: Farmer’s Insurance Group – Bob Williams / Richardson – 1301 Lake Park Way Richardson, TX 75080

Items Accepted: Computers, laptops, Monitors, LCDs, Printers, Phone Systems, Production Equipment, Subassemblies, Fax machines, copiers, networking equipment, and consumer electronics.

BCD will destroy all data on any storage device free of charge, using our NIST 800.88 compliant erasure technology. Certificates of Erasure will be emailed upon request! We invite you to come out and visit while responsibly disposing of your electronics!

We will see you at the drop off! Recycle responsibly, stay green my friends.

BCD Innovations and Improvements! 9/1/2011

Posted on September 1, 2011 by thalsell

Improvement of service levels and continuous improvement:
Fast changing technologies, business models and requirements is the stuff business is made of now. Innovation is required and expected, and is becoming commonly written in to outsourcing contracts. IT recycling is a commodity service product so it was only about relationships, quality of service and price mostly in the past. These days it is also very much about innovation and improvement.We have implemented a couple of new improvements recently at BCD Electro:
Our recently completed NIST 800-88 media sanitation service with automated serialization has allowed us to lower costs of data breach protection while improving the sanitation effectively. NIST 800-88 includes all addressable locations. There were some locations that were left with data on the old triple wipe DOD type methods. This method will lower your recycling costs.
See guidelines for sanitation at:
http://csrc.nist.gov/publications/nistpubs/800-88/NISTSP800-88_rev1.pdf

Next was the passing of SB 329 which establishes a television recycling program requiring manufacturers to take back and recycle a percentage of TVs, based on theirTexasmarket share. This has made the recycling of all electronics containing a CRT easier to recycle and has lowered our costs of recycling….this will lower your recycling fees also. Governor Perry has received accolades from environmental groups for the passing of this bill (finally).

BCD Electro receives Microsoft Registered Recycler status:
We now install original Microsoft Operating systems on our refurbished computers. Our Microsoft trained technicians thoroughly test and refurbish systems sold in our online sales venues. We are proud of the quality product we are able to offer, and to extend the lifetimes of many products that would just be ground up for their constituent parts otherwise. Check out our store at www.bcdelectrostore.com.

Let BCD Electro be your strategic electronic recycling partner.
It is about partnership….we lay out how BCD can build better relationships, improve service levels, improve cost management and improve collaboration and communication.
We don’t need any more event driven relationships. We plan it out to avoid us just selling you, and you just calling us when there is a problem.

BCD Electro’s “GO GREEN Recycling Event!” w/ Farmers Insurance – Richardson, TX

Posted on August 26, 2011 by thalsell

Dallas,Texasresidents and surrounding communities will have the chance to get rid of that old computer at BCD Electro’s “GO GREEN Recycling Event!” Saturday, October 15th! Save the date!

We are teaming up with Farmers Insurance Group – Bob Williams, to provide the “Go Green Recycling Event” which allows attendees to dispose of electronic equipment responsibly at no cost!

When: Saturday – October 15th

Time: 10AM-2PM

Where: Farmer’s Insurance Group – Bob Williams / Richardson – 1301 Lake Park Way Richardson, TX 75080

Items Accepted: Computers, laptops, Monitors, LCDs, Printers, Phone Systems, Production Equipment, Subassemblies, Fax machines, copiers, networking equipment, and consumer electronics.

We will see you at the drop off! Recycle responsibly, stay green my friends.

BCD ELECTRO AND MTBC ERECYCLING EVENT

Posted on August 24, 2011 by bharris

Go Green in April and May! BCD Electro and MTBC Team Up to Recycle Electronics

Do you have a cell phone the size of an ACME brick? Perhaps one of those free-standing scanners? Or a fax machine that could be a prop in the movie Office Space? Well, you’re in luck!During the months of April and May, the MTBC will conduct a free recycling initiative for members. Just bring your used electronics to the Management Luncheons on April 9 and May 7or the Technical Luncheon on May 7 and we’ll have a truck from BCD Electro there to collect them. You may also bring them to the MTBC offices at411 Belle Grove Dr.,Richardson,TX. 75080. They can also come to your location for on-the-spot service.

You can rest easy as BCD assures complete data destruction either onsite or at theirDallaswarehouse. And you’ll be doing the MTBC a favor, as part of the proceeds go to the MTBC membership campaign!

Not all electronic recyclers are the same. Family owned, BCD Electro has been in the business of recycling and remarketing electronics, medical, IT and industrial equipment since 1979. Located inDallas,Texas, they have 80,000 square feet of security monitored warehouse to handle large volumes of material. They tailor programs to fit the individual needs of our clients.

Their capabilities include:

BCD Electro is licensed with the EPA (#TXR000066589), TCEQ (#87811), and certified ISO 9001/14001 (our recycling processes are audited continually; other organizations only issue advise and don’t actively audit).
Data destruction, including computer hard drives, to protect sensitive information and can include Certificates of Recycling (our clients include hospital, retail, and banking clients with strict identity theft requirements).
End of Lifecycle management campaign solutions that comply with all environmental and regulatory laws (including traceable of material throughout its disposal).
BCD’s clients include Fortune 500 companies, banks, credit unions, hospitals, Federal and Local governments.

For more information, contact BCD Electro at 2146304298

BCD Electro – Technology Recycled – www.bcdelectro.com

Tech Link is a monthly publication of the Metroplex Technology Business Council Communications Department.

BCD Electro

Posted on August 24, 2011 by bharris

BCD Electro is a technology recycling solutions provider with a passion for employing environmentally sensitive methods for recycling technology equipment, integrated circuits and electronic components to meet the needs of enterprises, network operators, equipment manufacturers, contract equipment manufacturers, original design manufacturers, brokers and distributors. As an ISO 9001 and 14001 certified company, we have created product lifecycle management programs, known as BCD Advantage^SM, which together combat electronic waste proliferation through:

repurposing end-of-life, surplus, and obsolete electronic components back to operations for reuse,
remarketing electronic components to generate extra revenue; and,
recycling electronic components into new product

Our Environmental Policy

BCD Electro is committed to being a true environmental steward. The company’s core business is facilitating the reuse and recycling of electronics. Management is committed to assuring that BCD impacts the environment as little as possible. BCD Electro’s environmental programs provide the framework for setting, implementing, and reviewing the company’s environmental objectives and targets which include but are not limited to the following.

Commitment to complying with all relevant environmental legislation, regulations, and other customer and community requirements.
Prevention of pollution
Conservation of natural resources
Continual improvement of our environmental management system

Please call for more information . . . . . 214.630.4298 . . . . . . Dallas, TX.

Check out our store at www.bcdelectrostore.com