At Nybble, we strongly believe in helping the UK reduce its WEEE waste by reusing and recycling IT equipment that could potentially end up in landfill, and by doing so reduce the environmental damage that could cause.
What is WEEE?
The WEEE Directive was introduced into UK law in 2006. WEEE stands for Waste Electrical & Environmental Equipment and was designed to address the millions of tonnes of reclaimable/recyclable electronic equipment that had been dumped into landfill sites each year. In simple terms, it is basically any product that has a battery or a plug, therefore most IT equipment would fall under this criteria, and has to be collected and recycled correctly under the directive. Any WEEE equipment that is destined for disposal, will require a registered waste carrier to collect it and then be recycled or refurbished professionally. Nybble have been working with a longstanding Partner that can carry out collection of WEEE and also provide all the necessary paperwork and data Erasure Certificates if required.
Why does using refurbished hardware help the environment?
According to the World Economic Forum, a report commissioned in 2019, estimated that worldwide, the amount of WEEE generated annually was over 50m Tonnes, and if nothing changes that will double by 2050. Of this total, the UK disposes of approximately 2m tonnes of WEEE annually and is one of the fastest growing waste streams in the country. By reusing and repurposing Desktops and Laptops, this helps reduce electrical waste, and does not require the manufacturing of new components. Most IT parts are made from finite raw materials (i.e. Aluminium and Silicon many of which are due to run out at current consumption rates. There is also the potential damage to wildlife and eco systems in the areas where mining and component hardware production occurs.
Will refurbished IT hardware be reliable?
One of the questions I get asked regularly is around the Reliability of Refurbished IT, the assumption being that because it’s older equipment, it’s therefore prone to more issues or faults. This isn’t actually the case as all the equipment goes through a second round of testing and quality control which potentially picks up any issues that may have been missed previously. Nybble have also filtered through numerous suppliers and now have a core supplier base of 3 companies. These have all been assessed for having robust quality control and low return and failure rates. Also, the models and manufacturers were chosen carefully based on historical reliability rates.
But doesn’t refurbished hardware have short warranty periods?
No, all our refurbished range of products come with a standard 12-month warranty with 2- and 3-year extensions also available on request. Windows 11 support and refurbished hardware. It is important to note that Microsoft have already announced that they will end all Windows 10 support on the 14th of October 2025, after this date, it will no longer provide security updates or technical support. This could present a problem for businesses that still have older legacy IT equipment running Windows 10 or older versions of Windows as the threat of new viruses and malware increases year on year – mand will exploit vulnerabilities. Having to replace this older IT inventory can be an expensive exercise. However, refurbished desktops and laptops can be approximately 40% cheaper than purchasing new, so can offer an affordable alternative.
With the end of Windows 10 support looming, Nybble only stock refurbished products that are fully Windows 11 compatible.
Are any other refurbished products available?
Almost all IT/Electrical equipment is available in refurbished forms, for example.
- Mobile phones, tablets and iPads
- Servers and server components
- Hard drives and SSD’s
- Monitors and large format screens
- Network switches and access points.
Tetrade
Tetrade is a new Ecommerce platform that was launched in July this year, and is part of the Nybble group with a range of over 3,000 new and refurbished IT products available. Please visit the website for more details: tetrade.co.uk
Recently joined Nybble having spent over 30 years in IT Sales, with last 10 in the Recycling industry. Andrew is a specialist in Educational ICT, supporting schools in the provision of technology that supports modern integrated learning.
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