WEEE collections from a three-storey office and research facility handback

In November 2021 we cleared a three-storey office and research facility before the client handed it back to the landlord. Over 1,000 hard drives came out first, recovered for destruction. Then came the WEEE collections: 7.5 tonnes of IT equipment recycled with WEEE certification, and 15 tonnes of furniture processed.

Client type: An office and research facility handing the building back to its landlord
Scope: Confidential waste removal, data destruction, WEEE collections and furniture clearance
When: November 2021
Where: United Kingdom
Results: Over 1,000 hard drives recovered for destruction; 7.5 tonnes of IT equipment recycled with WEEE certification; 15 tonnes of office furniture processed

The challenge

The client was leaving a three-storey office and research facility and had to hand it back to the landlord empty. That sounds like a removals job. It is not, because a building that has been used for research is full of things that cannot just go in a skip.

There was a furniture removal company booked for the Monday. Before they arrived, the confidential waste had to be out of the building. Papers, drives and storage media were sitting in desks, drawers and cabinets.

The client is subject to GDPR. So the question was never only "where does this go". It was "can you prove what happened to it".

Our approach

We came in on the Sunday, before the furniture removal company arrived on the Monday. The first job was to remove and bag all the confidential waste, so it was out of the building before anyone else was in it.

Then we worked through the IT. Over 1,000 hard drives came out of more than 50 desks, plus a tote box of CDs and memory sticks. Several more tote boxes of old memory sticks and mobile phones came out of drawers and cabinets.

Every drive was to be logged on an asset registry before it went anywhere, then go back to our warehouse to be shredded on our HSM 150 shredder, with a certificate of destruction for the client. The registry and the certificate are what a GDPR auditor asks for.

All the paperwork was bagged for a confidential waste partner to collect and shred. The remaining IT equipment, 7.5 tonnes of it, went for recycling with WEEE certification. The office furniture, 15 tonnes, was processed as part of the clearance.

For WEEE collections generally, we use an upper-tier waste carrier and an approved WEEE recycling partner, and the paperwork follows the load.

The result

The confidential waste was out before the Monday furniture crew arrived. The numbers from the job: over 1,000 drives recovered for destruction, 7.5 tonnes of IT equipment recycled with WEEE certification, and 15 tonnes of furniture processed.

The aim was an asset registry, a certificate of destruction and WEEE certification, so the data trail and the waste trail both close.

WEEE is waste electrical and electronic equipment: computers, monitors, phones, servers, anything with a plug or a battery. A collection means we take it away, keep it traceable and send it for proper recycling. For businesses, the paperwork matters as much as the lorry, because you need to show where it went.

We log every drive on an asset registry, take it to our warehouse and shred it on our HSM shredder. You get a certificate of destruction listing what was destroyed.

On this job that covered over 1,000 drives. If you want to watch, we can also shred on site.

Yes. This one was a three-storey building. We removed the confidential waste first, then the IT, then handled the furniture.

Plan it with the date the keys go back in mind, and sort the confidential waste before any removals crew turns up. Call +44(0) 1932 247 365.

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