It’s official – in New Jersey at least – but other jurisdictions will certainly follow. If your company has an office there, this new ITAD law applies to you.
On January 11, 2016, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie signed a law removing the state’s restriction on mobile hard drive shredding; thereby giving New Jersey businesses more options to meet their data protection and destruction requirements. However, not everyone can shred or dispose of their sensitive data in any way they like and not all ITAD service providers are certified.
Just like all electronics, hard drives, whether whole or shredded, are considered by the EPA to be hazardous waste. Your company is ultimately responsible for ensuring that this material is disposed of properly — but if it is hazardous, how can you dispose of it without running afoul of the law?
The new law requires that your ITAD service provider be NAID AAA Certified and they maintain global requirements for proper recycling (ISO14001 is a global standard). In North America, most recyclers that are ISO 14001 Certified also have either e-Stewards 2.0 or R2:2013 electronics recycling certifications. Lifespan has all three.
According to leading ITAD services provider, Lifespan, whose management team was the lead of the NAID Task Force assigned to direct the initiative, New Jersey businesses are the ultimate beneficiaries.
“NAID applauds the actions of the New Jersey lawmakers in providing their constituents with more discretion in deciding which hard drive destruction solution is best for them,” says Lifespan’s Representative. “This is the first state law in the U.S. that requires service providers have NAID AAA certification and I’m sure there will be many, many more states to follow suit.”
These recycling certifications cover all electronics. So this change by NAID will ensure that all electronic media destroyed by NAID certified members is disposed of properly.
As a leader in developing and promoting standards for the IT Asset Disposition and Data Destruction industry, Lifespan strongly supports this change. To learn more about ensuring that your whole ITAD process meets all current and future regulatory requirements and ensuring secure data destruction, contact your Lifespan representative right away.
Article By: James (Jim) Drohan
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
