It’s Not Easy Being Green.
As Kermit the frog once said “It’s not easy being green”. There has been a lot of news recently about ICT companies going green, and with the introduction of WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive), green computers and green initiatives by Google (http://www.webuser.co.uk/news/125302.html), it looks like it will not ease off. But can a company be truly green and will WEEE make a difference?
Let’s start with what WEEE is all about. It is a new EU law that came into force last month, but has been hammered out by policy makers for a number of years. It should have became law in August 2005 (policymakers work fast in the EU).
The problem with WEEE is that depending on when the item was brought, how many volts it is and if it is being replaced with like for like? All these questions will have a factor on deciding what you need to do with the item.
For a full run down on WEEE, there is a great article in IT Week (http://www.edugeek.net/index.php?name=Forums&file=download&id=981) that gives you all the information you need.
Now do I think WEEE will make a difference? Maybe. For a while big companies will follow the new laws, it will be some of the small businesses that decide to ‘ignore’ the law.
Alternative is that we need to make businesses embrace being green with some incentive aside from the cost benefit of being green. The most important thing is that it would have to be part of the companies’ culture. The other month I was at RM’s head office. They have gone a through lot to become a green company (http://www.rm.com/Generic.asp?cref=GP819631&position=2, http://www.rm.com/Company/PressOffice/PressReleaseDetail.asp?cref=PRR956442&position=10). However, I still wondered if it was just a good marketing ploy. But, when you visit them, you start to realise that it is truly a green company. It needs companies taking the whole green company idea on board and make it an integrated issue into every part of the company. The companies that take a long-term strategy will make the difference and not complicated laws.
Filed under: EduBlogger, Education, RM, Thoughts, WEEE, green