• rss
Menu
shutterstock-1024544866
Green Business

GDPR may force businesses to recycle e-waste

It always comes down to money. While recent e-waste figures suggest there is a lack of will among enterprises to manage the problem – total waste is expected to rise annually to 52.2 million metric tons by 2021 globally – the impending launch of new data protection regulations GDPR in Europe could change all that. GDPR for one has teeth. Severe financial penalties (up to €20m or 4 percent of turnover) will be imposed on non-complying businesses and that also means businesses that suffer data breaches.

When you consider that UK telecoms and broadband provider TalkTalk was fined £400,000 and £100,000 for two separate data loss incidents, that puts it into perspective. As NCC Group pointed out last year, under GDPR, this could rise to over £50m. Given the amount of data swimming around on smartphones, tablets, laptops and hard drives, this is only going to get more difficult to manage, especially as these products reach the end of their lives.

Still not sure what GDPR is, whether it applies to you, and what you need to do about it? Here’s Everything you need to know about… GDPR

So this becomes an e-waste issue as much as it becomes a GDPR issue. According to research, only 20 percent of e-waste is ‘documented to be collected and properly recycled’ which means that 80 percent of waste could in theory be open to abuse.

“By 2020, it is estimated that every individual will have a formidable digital shadow of about 2.5GB of personal data – the result of an ongoing ‘data exhaust’ pumped out from myriad sources,” says Nick Taylor, head of Accenture Security UK.

To continue reading...


PREVIOUS ARTICLE

« How blockchains can help build stronger software

NEXT ARTICLE

Demystifying Industry 4.0 »
Marc Ambasna-Jones

Marc Ambasna-Jones is a UK-based freelance writer and media consultant and has been writing about business and technology since 1989.

  • Mail

Recommended for You

Trump hits partial pause on Huawei ban, but 5G concerns persist

Phil Muncaster reports on China and beyond

FinancialForce profits from PSA investment

Martin Veitch's inside track on today’s tech trends

Future-proofing the Middle East

Keri Allan looks at the latest trends and technologies

More Like This

Content Library

<div class='left_content'><p><a>Business Management</a></p><h2>Spotlight – The State...</h2><p>Organisations with less than 500 employees are a huge...</p><a href="/document/23c57269-d258-426c-8e16-910be8130289/spotlight-–-the-state-of-midsize-business-and-it-today">Download Content</a></div> <div class='left_content'><p><a>Security</a></p><h2>Getting Around User Workarounds:...</h2><p>Legal firms are at high risk due to employee actions...</p><a href="/document/5609e638-2959-4897-9381-17e6e00583b0/getting-around-user-workarounds-security-to-account-for-human-nature">Download Content</a></div> <div class='left_content'><p><a>Security</a></p><h2>Awareness and Prevention...</h2><p>Every public sector entity is unique, and the velocity,...</p><a href="/document/71ae5d95-e940-4666-b85d-10e9858c8812/awareness-and-prevention-don’t-match-up-in-public-sector-organisations">Download Content</a></div> <div class='left_content'><p><a>Business Management</a></p><h2>IT Trends 2019- Skills...</h2><p>Today’s technology professionals are at an inflection...</p><a href="/document/6bd3b268-9990-4771-b78a-2e93ab36efcd/it-trends-2019-skills-for-tech-pros-of-tomorrow">Download Content</a></div> <div class='left_content'><p><a>Security</a></p><h2>A Buydown for Risk- Why...</h2><p>Enterprises are increasingly aware of the need to protect...</p><a href="/document/b3d1f4ae-7dbc-438d-8b74-a74939dc1c15/a-buydown-for-risk-why-data-security-is-a-must-japanese-language">Download Content</a></div> <div class='left_content'><p><a>Data management</a></p><h2>Modern data engineering...</h2><p>Disruption caused by changing consumer trends affects...</p><a href="/document/2082d00a-92cd-4e62-900c-f1f596b90236/modern-data-engineering-at-scale-in-the-cloud-with-databricks-and-talend">Download Content</a></div> <div class='left_content'><p><a>Infrastructure Management</a></p><h2>SAP HANA on IBM Power...</h2><p>Across industries, organisations are recognising the...</p><a href="/document/a741058c-93bb-4edc-a0f7-2029b026a72b/sap-hana-on-ibm-power-systems-driving-innovation-at-the-speed-of-business">Download Content</a></div> <div class='left_content'><p><a>Infrastructure Management</a></p><h2>Lower Your Total Cost...</h2><p>Before taking the easiest route and choosing x86 servers,...</p><a href="/document/63090fdb-5e19-4a36-9895-80eb7c40e60c/lower-your-total-cost-of-ownership-tco-for-sap-hana-with-ibm-power-systems">Download Content</a></div>
View the full Content Library >

Poll

Do you think your smartphone is making you a workaholic?