An update to staff on how to safely and securely dispose of old University-owned IT equipment
Staff are being urged to remove redundant IT kit and electrical equipment which carries a fire and data security risk.
Having data stored on an old piece of equipment carries the threat of it falling into the wrong hands – if it has not received regular software updates it might be vulnerable when it is next reconnected to the network.
Meanwhile, a recent incident at the University of Vienna where a laptop battery which hadn’t been used for over three years caught fire and destroyed a chemistry lab has highlighted the dangers of allowing old IT equipment to gather dust. Although the risk of this kind of event is very low, and no one was hurt, the disruption and cost was very significant.
Please visit our Waste and Recycling advice page where you can arrange to get old University-owned IT kit removed, the data cleared, and the equipment disposed of in the correct way.