The Circular Drive Initiative (CDI) has reported that millions of usable hard drives are being unnecessarily destroyed, adding to the growing pile of e-waste.

How Big Is The Problem? 

According to reported comments to the BBC from Chia Network’s and secretary and treasurer of the CDI, Jonmichael Hands, millions of hard drives are shredded each year and that One ITAD provider told him they were shredding five million drives for a single customer!

Why Are So Many Hard Drives Being Scrapped? 

The CDI’s spokesperson, William McDonough, Chief Executive of McDonough Innovation and architect of Cradle-to-Cradle design and The Circular Economy, says “Much of the e-waste we see from hard drives today is driven by perceived risk and insufficient secondary markets for this technology”. 

For example, storage devices are usually sold with a five-year warranty, and large data centres, which have zero-risk policies, have to retire them when the warranty expires. This means that an estimated 90 per cent of their hard drives are destroyed when they are removed (CDI estimate).

Also, many industries and organisations are subject to data protection regulations and standards that require them to securely destroy data when it is no longer needed. Shredding hard drives helps to meet these compliance requirements, demonstrating that proper measures were taken to protect confidential information.

What Are The True Costs Of Shredding? 

Shredding hard drives has environmental costs associated with it, primarily related to electronic waste generation and resource consumption. For example:

– E-Waste. Shredding hard drives contributes to electronic waste (e-waste), which is a growing environmental concern. E-waste contains various hazardous materials, including heavy metals like lead, cadmium and mercury, as well as toxic substances like brominated flame retardants. Improper disposal of e-waste can result in these hazardous materials entering the environment and causing pollution.

– Resource Consumption. Shredding hard drives means that the materials used to manufacture them, such as metals (aluminium, copper, etc.) and plastics, are not being recycled or reused. Extracting and processing these raw materials requires energy and resources, including water and fossil fuels. By not reusing or recycling the materials in hard drives, the demand for new resources increases, leading to additional environmental impacts.

– Energy Intensity. The process of shredding hard drives requires energy to operate the shredding equipment. The energy consumption associated with shredding, especially for large-scale operations, can contribute to carbon emissions and further contribute to climate change.

Shredding May Not Stop Data From Being Recovered 

Although melting or incineration would most certainly destroy the drives and any sensitive data on them, the current preferred method (e.g. for data centres) is shredding. However, given that the latest drives have 500,000 tracks of data per square inch, it’s still possible that a determined data recovery person could still read the data from a shredded hard drive simply by taking a piece as small as 3mm.

What Is The CDI & How Can It Help?

The CDI describes itself as “a partnership of global leaders in digital storage, data centres, sustainability, and blockchain collaborating to reduce e-waste by enabling, driving, and promoting the secure reuse of storage hardware”. The CDI is one organisation that’s trying to foster a sustainable future by enabling the circular economy in data storage, i.e. it aims to ensure that data storage devices can be securely reused, significantly reducing e-waste, and reducing carbon emissions linked to manufacturing new storage devices. It says it’s working to try and change the data storage industry by “enabling circularity and by developing, promoting, and implementing standards, transparent reporting, and best practices cantered around a circular economy”. 

What Is The Circular Economy? 

The circular economy is an economic model that aims to minimise waste, maximise resource efficiency, and promote sustainability. It focuses on keeping products and materials in use for as long as possible through strategies like reuse, repair, and recycling.

When it comes to e-waste, such as discarded or shredded hard drives, the circular economy approach seeks to address the environmental and resource challenges associated with electronic waste. Instead of discarding electronic devices such as smartphones, laptops, or appliances, the circular economy promotes strategies like:

– Repair and refurbishment. Encouraging the repair and refurbishment of electronic devices to extend their lifespan and prevent premature disposal.

– Reuse and resale. Promoting the reuse and resale of functioning electronic devices to maximise their value and reduce the need for new production.

– Recycling and material recovery. Ensuring that end-of-life electronic devices are properly recycled to recover valuable materials like metals, plastics, and rare earth elements for use in new products.

By implementing circular economy principles in the management of e-waste, the environmental impact of electronic devices can be reduced, resources can be conserved, and a more sustainable electronic ecosystem can be created. This could allow for a shift from the linear “take-make-dispose” model to a circular system that prioritizes resource efficiency, waste reduction, and the responsible handling of electronic waste.

What Are The Alternatives To Shredding Hard Drives? 

Alternative methods to shredding hard drives that can make the drives re-usable include:

– Purging. This method, which leaves the original data on them unable to be recovered can involve having the hard drives overwritten with new patterns of data. This method can take days.

– Cryptographic erasing. This method, which takes seconds, involves deleting the key for their built-in encryption. This makes the data on the hard drives impossible to read and the hard disks can be re-used/re-sold.

Companies And Organisations Erasing And Refurbishing Hard Drives 

Some companies and organisations are helping to tackle the problem of hard drives being scrapped, helping with sustainability and the circular economy by refurbishing and re-selling hard drives.  For example:

– As outlined previously in this article, the CDI.

– Seagate, led by Amy Zuckerman, and a founding member of CDI, Seagate reports refurbishing and reselling 1.16 million hard drives and solid-state drives (SSDs) in the 2022 financial year, thereby saving more than 540 tonnes of electronic waste (e-waste). Customers for its recycled hard drives include smaller data centres and cryptocurrency mining operations.

What If Hard Drives Can’t Be Refurbished? 

Seagate reports that for any hard drives it can’t refurbish, it looks at parts-extracting and materials recycling. The company reports that in its Taiwan pilot programme, 57 per cent of the material was recycled, made up of magnets and aluminium.

Hard Drives Declining 

Some tech commentators have noted that the use of traditional (spinning) hard drives is declining, with more ambitious predictions suggesting they could be gone within 5 years.

They could be replaced, for example, with solid-state drives (SSDs), which have been increasing rapidly in recent years, and they are gradually replacing traditional hard drives in many areas. SSDs offer several advantages over hard drives, including faster data access times, higher reliability, lower power consumption, and smaller physical size. These benefits make SSDs particularly suitable for portable devices like laptops and smartphones, as well as high-performance computing environments.

The declining cost of SSDs has been a significant factor driving their adoption. As SSD technology advances and becomes more affordable, more consumers and businesses are choosing SSDs over traditional hard drives. This shift in consumer preference has led to a decline in hard drive sales in certain markets.

It should be remembered, however, that hard drives still excel in terms of storage capacity and cost per terabyte. As such, they remain the preferred choice for large-scale storage solutions, such as data centres and archival systems and suggestions that they may be gone within 5 years may be premature.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation? 

The unnecessary destruction of millions of usable hard drives, leading to the alarming growth of e-waste, calls for immediate action and a commitment to sustainable solutions. The Circular Drive Initiative (CDI), for example, is at the forefront of driving change by enabling the circular economy in data storage. However, the scale of hard drive shredding persists due to perceived risk and the lack of viable secondary markets for this technology.

Addressing this problem requires decisive steps and innovative approaches. Organisations must recognise the environmental costs associated with shredding hard drives, including the generation of electronic waste and resource depletion. By not reusing or recycling the valuable materials within hard drives, we exacerbate the demand for new resources and contribute to climate change through energy-intensive shredding processes.

To combat these challenges, alternatives to shredding hard drives, such as purging or cryptographic erasing, must be explored and adopted more widely. These methods render hard drives reusable while ensuring data security, paving the way for a more sustainable future. Companies and organisations already engaged in erasing and refurbishing hard drives serve as examples of the positive impact that can be achieved.

There is enormous potential for expansion in the hard drive recycling market, especially considering the large number of hard drives sold in previous years that are now reaching the end of their warranty. The industry must embrace innovation and invest in processes that enable the recovery of the 61 chemical elements used in hard drives. This approach will not only reduce resource consumption and waste but also open up new opportunities for sustainable practices and economic growth.

Computers Before Keyboards

Computing was a lot more challenging before July 4th 1956 because that’s when MIT revolutionised their Whirlwind Computer … by introducing a keyboard !

Before that, interacting with computers was a laborious, time-consuming process. Programmers would offer instructions to these mammoth machines by the manual insertion of punched cards, an operation requiring meticulous accuracy. They also changed dials and switches, physically reconfiguring the hardware to implement different instructions.

Believe it or not, punched-cards were relics from the ‘Jacquard-Loom’ – an invention developed during the industrial revolution in 1801 by Joseph Marie Jacquard.

Talking of revolutions, he was a frenchman, so goodness knows what he’d say about the riots in France although he did live during the French Revolution himself so was perhaps no stranger to troubled-times.

His punched-cards enabled weavers to independently fabricate textiles of virtually limitless size and intricacy. Interestingly, he was born on 7th July, albeit 204 years earlier (than the birth of the Computer-Keyboard) in 1752.

With touch-screens, voice-to-text, haptic-clothing and other interfaces heading our way, what will inputs and outputs to computers be like soon? Perhaps with direct-to-brain connections (e.g. from Musk’s Neuralink company) we’ll just be one step closer to living in a virtual-world …

Computers Before Keyboards

Computing was a lot more challenging before July 4th 1956 because that’s when MIT revolutionised their Whirlwind Computer … by introducing a keyboard !

Before that, interacting with computers was a laborious, time-consuming process. Programmers would offer instructions to these mammoth machines by the manual insertion of punched cards, an operation requiring meticulous accuracy. They also changed dials and switches, physically reconfiguring the hardware to implement different instructions.

Believe it or not, punched-cards were relics from the ‘Jacquard-Loom’ – an invention developed during the industrial revolution in 1801 by Joseph Marie Jacquard.

Talking of revolutions, he was a frenchman, so goodness knows what he’d say about the riots in France although he did live during the French Revolution himself so was perhaps no stranger to troubled-times.

His punched-cards enabled weavers to independently fabricate textiles of virtually limitless size and intricacy. Interestingly, he was born on 7th July, albeit 204 years earlier (than the birth of the Computer-Keyboard) in 1752.

With touch-screens, voice-to-text, haptic-clothing and other interfaces heading our way, what will inputs and outputs to computers be like soon? Perhaps with direct-to-brain connections (e.g. from Musk’s Neuralink company) we’ll just be one step closer to living in a virtual-world …

In this insight we look at Google’s updated inactive account policy whereby Google accounts not used for 2 years could be deleted, meaning the loss of important emails, photos, data and more.

Gmail, YouTube, & Google Photos Accounts

The inactive account deletions are part of a policy change for Google’s products and will apply to personal accounts (not business accounts) and their contents, i.e. content within the workspace including Gmail, Docs, Drive, Meet, Calendar, YouTube, and Google Photos.

Why?

The main reason for deletions of inactive accounts is to improve security. For example, older dormant accounts tend to rely on old or re-used passwords that may have been compromised and, Google says, are ten times less likely to have multi-factor authentication (2FA) set up on them. This means they’re more vulnerable to hacking and when compromised, could be used for other malicious activity, e.g., identity theft, or sending spam. Also, the move by Google is a step towards aligning its own policies with “industry standards” around retention and account deletion and is a way to help limit the amount of time Google retains users’ personal information.

When? 

Google says it will begin a slow rollout from 1 December and will give “plenty of notice”, i.e. multiple notifications over months to the account email address and the recovery email (if there is one linked to the account).

How Can You Stop Your Old Account From Being Deleted?

To keep a Google account ‘active’ so it doesn’t end up being deleted as part of the policy, users should sign-in at least once every 2 years and take certain actions such as:

– Reading or sending an email.

– Using Google Drive.

– Watching a YouTube video.

– Downloading an app on the Google Play Store.

– Using Google Search.

– Using Sign in with Google to sign in to a third-party app or service.

– Google Photos, Subscriptions & YouTube Videos.

Users who have subscriptions set up through their Google account, e.g. to Google One, a news publication, or an app won’t have their account deleted as this constitutes activity. As for YouTube videos, Google says it currently has no plans to delete accounts with YouTube videos.

Google says that to retain Googe Photos, users should sign in every 2 years to be show activity and avoid any deletion.

Take A Backup

To avoid any issues, in addition to providing a recovery email address (to receive notifications), Google is encouraging users to take a backup of their account anyway, e.g. using its ‘Takeout’ feature. Users can also try using Google’s ‘Inactive Account Manager’ to tell Google in advance what should happen to their account if it’s inactive for up to 18 months.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Although the policy doesn’t apply to business accounts, many businesses use domestic free Google accounts for business, and may have valued and important photos, archived emails, data and more stored in one or several Google accounts. The good news is that it doesn’t come into force until December so there’s time to revisit old accounts and indicate that they’re active, e.g. by simply sending an email from them. Google’s also made it clear that there’ll be many reminders along the way, which will only really be useful if a recovery email address has been set up. Google account users can, of course, choose to make a backup of their important data and files. It makes sense and is understandable that Google would want to pursue this policy from both a security and privacy (how long they hold on to user data) standpoint.

In this insight, we look at what email trackers are, how they work, what the main concerns about them are, plus how you can protect yourself from email trackers.

What Is An Email Tracker? 

An email tracker is a tool or technology used to monitor and track the activities associated with emails. It provides information about when an email was opened, how many times it was opened, the location of the recipient, and whether any links within the email were clicked. Email tracking is commonly used in marketing and sales to measure the effectiveness of email campaigns, gauge customer engagement, and obtain insights into recipient behaviour.

Not all email services use email trackers and their usage depends on the specific email service provider or client and the settings chosen by the user. Some email services, especially those focused on privacy and security, may automatically block external images, or disable tracking by default to protect user privacy.

How Do Email Trackers Work? 

Email tracking typically works by embedding a small, invisible image or pixel within the email content. When the recipient opens the email and enables the images to display, the image is loaded from the sender’s server. This loading process notifies the sender that the email has been opened. Additionally, the image can include unique identifiers that help identify the recipient and track their interactions with the email, such as link clicks.

What Are The Main Concerns About Email Trackers?

There are several main concerns associated with email trackers, including:

– Privacy. Email trackers can infringe on the privacy of email recipients. Tracking pixels and unique identifiers embedded in emails allow senders to collect information about when and where the email was opened, as well as other user actions. This tracking can be done without the explicit consent or knowledge of the recipient.

– Informed Consent. Many recipients are unaware that their actions are being monitored when they open an email. Transparency and informed consent are important ethical considerations, and the use of email trackers can raise concerns about the lack of explicit consent from recipients.

– User Awareness. In some cases, email clients may not provide clear notifications or warnings about the presence of tracking pixels or the potential tracking of user behaviour. This lack of awareness can lead to a lack of control over personal data and a diminished sense of privacy.

– Legal Considerations. Laws and regulations regarding email tracking vary by country. Organisations must comply with applicable regulations, such as GDPR (and UK GDPR), which requires obtaining explicit consent and providing clear information about data collection practices.

– Trust and Perception. The use of email trackers, particularly in marketing and sales contexts, can erode trust between senders and recipients. When recipients become aware of being tracked, it may negatively impact their perception of the sender and the organisation they represent.

– Counterproductive Effects. Some recipients may feel uncomfortable or invaded by the tracking of their actions. This discomfort can lead to negative reactions, such as marking emails as spam, unsubscribing from mailing lists, or developing a negative impression of the sender’s brand or organisation.

How Can You Avoid Email Trackers? 

To reduce the likelihood of your emails being tracked and preventing senders from knowing when you’ve opened an email, there are several steps you can take. For example:

– Disable image loading. Most email trackers work by embedding a hidden tracking pixel, which is typically an image, within the email. By disabling the automatic loading of external images in your email client or webmail service, you can prevent the tracking pixel from loading and notifying the sender. Check your email client settings for an option to disable image loading.

– Use a privacy-focused email service. Consider using an email service provider that prioritises privacy and security. Some services, such as ProtonMail and Tutanota, have built-in privacy features that can block tracking and enhance your email privacy. Also, DuckDuckGo email protection is a privacy-focused email forwarding service.

– Use a browser extension. There are browser extensions available, such as Ugly Email (an open-source Gmail extension), PixelBlock, Privacy Badger, Ghostery, and uBlock Origin that can help detect and block email trackers. These types of browser extensions work by identifying and blocking tracking pixels within emails.

– Avoid clicking on unknown or suspicious links. Some email trackers operate by tracking link clicks. Be cautious when clicking on links within emails, especially if you’re unsure of the sender’s intentions or the authenticity of the email. Hover over links to see the URL before clicking on them.

– Disable read receipts. Some email clients or services offer read receipt functionality that notifies the sender when you open their email. Ensure this feature is disabled in your email settings to prevent tracking of your email activity.

– Use a VPN. A Virtual Private Network (VPN) encrypts your internet connection and can help maintain your online privacy by masking your IP address and location. By using a VPN, you can make it more difficult for senders to track your activities.

While these steps can help reduce email tracking, they may not completely eliminate all tracking methods. Also, taking these precautions may affect your overall email experience or limit certain legitimate functionalities, such as displaying images from trusted senders.

What Does This Mean For Your Business? 

Email tracking has become a widespread practice in the business world, providing valuable insights into email campaign performance and recipient behaviour. However, with growing privacy concerns, many people prefer to be proactive in protecting themselves from having their personal or business emails tracked.

For those looking to safeguard their business from email tracking, there are several measures that can be taken. For example, using an encrypted email service that prioritises security and privacy, e.g. ProtonMail or Tutanota offers end-to-end encryption, making it harder for unauthorised parties to intercept or track your email communications. Other measures businesses can take include:

– Reviewing and updating email infrastructure and implementing technologies like Transport Layer Security (TLS) and Sender Policy Framework (SPF) to secure email transmissions and prevent email spoofing and unauthorised senders.

– Training and educating employees about the risks associated with email tracking and teach them to identify suspicious emails, avoid clicking on unknown links, and promptly report any potential security breaches.

– Disabling image loading in email clients or webmail services.

– Using browser extensions that specialise in privacy protection, e.g. PixelBlock, Privacy Badger, or uBlock Origin to help detect and block email trackers and provide an extra layer of protection for the business.

While implementing these protective measures is essential, it’s important to recognise the impact on companies that rely heavily on email tracking for marketing purposes. Blocking email trackers can result in the loss of detailed metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates, which are valuable for measuring campaign effectiveness. However, businesses can adapt by exploring alternative strategies to gather insights without relying solely on email tracking. Direct feedback mechanisms like surveys, preference centres, or explicit opt-ins can provide valuable information about recipient preferences and interests. Emphasising quality content and engagement strategies can also help drive customer interactions and by delivering personalised and relevant emails, businesses can encourage recipients to actively engage with the content, reducing the reliance on tracking data.

It could be said, therefore, that in the business world there is a balance between privacy protection and gathering valuable insights that is currently needed to help senders create successful email campaigns while helping recipients protect their privacy.

A huge pink and purple, temporary wind turbine that was erected to help provide Glastonbury Festival with green energy will also act as a ‘try before you buy’ promotion for similar turbines to be set up in other UK sites.

Turbine + Solar Panels Feeds Super Low-Carbon Energy Microgrid 

The 20-metre-high wind turbine with 8 metre blades provided by Octopus Energy was erected in a day in William’s Green field, near the famous Pyramid stage at the Glastonbury Festival, site and has provided the energy for thousands of green, clean snacks and meals for over 200,000 festival-goers. An extra bank of solar panels to complement the wind turbine, plus a battery to store the green energy produced, helped supply clean energy to the Festival’s own microgrid. This supplied power from super low-carbon energy to the stalls and equipment for food vendors in the field and is produced up to 300kWh of energy per day – enough to power 300 fridges.

Try Before You Buy 

With the festival now over, the fact that the huge turbine is temporary, was only ordered in April, and once shipped to the Glastonbury site it only took 2 weeks to build the parts, and just one day to erect it are to be used by Octopus Energy to offer other communities the chance to host the Glasto turbine and use it as a kind of ‘try before you buy’. For example, a community anywhere in the country could (if considerations and connections allow) have the famous turbine erected and could therefore see how it can create energy bill savings for people in the area e.g., 20 per cent discount on any electricity used when the local turbine starts turning, rising to 50 per cent when it really picks up. The fact that it’s the same turbine that at Glastonbury Festival and is decorated with the design of Octopus tentacles wrapped around its purple tower and pink blades could also make it a bit of a visual point of interest to.

How? 

Existing Octopus customers on and Octopus ‘Fan Club’ tariff members can request a turbine for their community. So far, as part of ‘Fan Club’ initiative, which brings together thousands of small generation projects into one ‘giant wind farm’, 20,000 people have requested a turbine. If their request is accepted and one is deployed, it could turn out to be the now famous Glastonbury turbine.

Traditional Turbines 

Generally, it takes several weeks to several months to complete the entire process from the start of site preparation to the commissioning a wind turbine that’s intended to be permanent. Getting the chance to host a temporary one that can be erected (and dismantled again) very quickly, therefore, is an idea that could help promote and speed up the adoption of green power around the UK. The benefits (combined with e.g., solar) could be not just cheaper bills but carbon reduction, reduced stress on the grid, the chance to meet environmental targets more quickly, less reliance on fossil fuels (coal and oil), reduced vulnerability to price hikes caused by overseas wars and markets, and a more sustainable energy system.

The UK Is Suited To More Wind Power 

The fact that the UK is an island nation with a long coastline, with strong and consistent wind resources, particularly in coastal areas provides ample opportunities for offshore wind farms. Offshore wind resources tend to be stronger and more consistent compared to onshore wind, making it an attractive option for harnessing wind energy. The prevailing westerly winds that blow across the Atlantic Ocean to the UK make the country ideal for capturing wind energy and the relatively high wind speeds contribute to the efficiency and productivity of wind turbines.

What Does This Mean For Your Organisation? 

This is essentially a ‘try before you buy’ promotion for wind power (and Octopus’s services) and the chance of hosting Glastonbury’s turbine sounds like an ingenious way of widening the clean energy network. Having a temporary structure that is quick to deploy and the fact that it is temporary sounds like a good way to counter objections to turbines in an area and win over local people e.g., see how one looks, sounds, and helps with savings. It may also be an effective way for helping Octopus underline and promote its green credentials and branding, and to expand its ‘Fan Club’ one-giant-wind-farm scheme. As an island nation with a long coastline and no shortage of wind it makes sense to utilise this abundant natural resource to move to a greener and more sustainable future for energy.