BBC Highlights E-Waste in Africa as an International Scandal

BBC 3 Programme Alleges Malpractice in UK Public Sector Recycling and Raises Questions About how you Ensure That Your IT Equipment is Recycled Safely and Responsibly, States Andy Howell, Group Recycling Manager at Stone

STAFFORD, England, May 21, 2010 - In the recent BBC3 programme, "Blood, Sweat & Luxuries: Gold
and E-Waste" on 11 May 2010 and viewable here:
bbc.co.uk/i/sch78/?t=38m46s IT equipment from several high profile UK
public sector (www.stonegroup.co.uk/about-us.aspx) organisations was
alleged to have made its way to site in Ghana as e-waste in Africa
(www.stonegroup.co.uk/news–events/news.aspx), where young children
were seen scavenging for recoverable electronic components to sell for scrap
value. This alleged illegal transportation of IT waste from the UK as has
raised questions about how any organisation can ensure that its unneeded
equipment is recycled, re-used or disposed of, in an acceptable and
responsible fashion.

Andy Howell (www.stonegroup.co.uk/services–support/professional-services/recycling.aspx),
Group Recycling Manager at Stone stonegroup.co.uk, the UK's
largest privately-owned computer hardware manufacturer and public sector
specialists, comments, "European laws exist to prevent such UK IT waste ever
reaching countries such as Ghana in this way. But, as this programme has
highlighted, these laws may not be controlling the recycling market as well
as they could be, with some recycling providers operating in the UK
transporting waste illegally rather than recovering or disposing of it
correctly."

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Andy Howell, Group Recycling Manager at Stone, continues, "I
am bitterly disappointed and upset to see that IT hardware from highly
reputable organisations has somehow made its way to rubbish sites on another
continent, such as those shown in Ghana. I am certain that those
organisations who were highlighted, had entered into an agreement with their
recycling providers in good faith, fully trusting that the old hardware would
either be recycled or that any working units would be deployed to countries
like Ghana, or other African countries in desperate need of actual working IT
equipment."

Howell adds, "These UK public sector organisations and bodies
have been let down badly by "cowboy suppliers" who have not taken adequate
care to ensure that the systems being replaced will be responsibly recycled,
and not left as e-waste in Africa. Not to mention the harm that such
irresponsible behaviour is doing to the environment as a whole and
specifically to the countries in which the waste is dumped."

Andy Howell, Group Recycling Manager at Stone, explains,
"There are recycling companies out there for the UK public sector who will
take responsibility for recovering appropriate IT hardware and re-deploying
it through the proper channels. Any equipment that is not fit for recovery
will be recycled in line with the present stringent legislation and put back
into manufacturing processes where possible."

Following the full implementation of the WEEE (Waste
Electronic & Electrical Equipment) Directive in 2007, Stone met the challenge
head on and invested in excess of GBP500,000 to equip its own Authorised
Treatment Facility, fully licensed by the Environment Agency.

Andy Howell, Group Recycling Manager at Stone, comments,
"Whilst every other UK IT manufacturer engages third parties to discharge
their producer obligations, Stone manages the entire lifecycle of the
hardware it manufactures from 'cradle to grave', which in turn affords us
control over the environmental impact of our products. In the past twelve
months absolutely nothing has even gone to UK landfill."

Stone has collected over 500 tonnes of redundant IT from its
UK public sector customers over the last 12 months and, in line with the
recovery/re-use objective of the WEEE Directive, recovered 74%. The remaining
26% underwent a volume reduction and segregation process in-house, before the
various output streams were returned to the remanufacturing industries. 0%
went to landfill, and the majority of recovered (working) equipment is
supplied by Stone to UK public sector customers.

Stone also recently became the premier sponsor of IT Schools
Africa (www.itschoolsafrica.org), a branch of the Isbourne Foundation
(registered charity no. 1051622). IT Schools Africa supplies and supports IT
donations to school projects throughout Malawi, Zimbabwe, Zambia and
Tanzania. Its support not only provides for the supply of equipment and
training the teachers, it also ensures the kit is responsibly disposed of at
the end of its secondary life, preventing e-waste in Africa.

Andy Howell, Group Recycling Manager at Stone, concludes,
"Through our in-house recycling plant and partnership with IT Schools Africa,
Stone is able to offer its UK public sector customers the assurance that
redundant IT hardware will be recovered, re-used or recycled in line with the
WEEE legislation and ethical standards, and that their equipment will never
appear as e-waste in Africa in scenes such as those portrayed in the recent
BBC3 programme."

Notes to editors

About Stone

Stone is the UK's largest privately-owned computer hardware
manufacturer and is wholly dedicated to the UK public sector, specialising in
the supply and support of ICT and audio-visual solutions to schools,
colleges, universities, local government, the emergency services, the NHS and
the MoD.

Stone's directors and employees are UK based, paying UK taxes
and the company pays UK corporation tax. That means that the company and its
employees are all reinvesting as taxpayers back into UK PLC, unlike some
competitors that are based abroad and contribute to other economies. Stone
has recently invested in 100,000 sq.ft. of new manufacturing production line
and office facilities in the West Midlands because it firmly believes in
UK-based manufacturing.

Having acquired Rock in May 2008, Stone Group now sells direct
to consumers, and offers high-end business and gaming notebooks to all
sectors.

As well as being awarded all major educational and public
sector frameworks, Stone Group has well-established relationships with
leading manufacturers. Strong partnerships with Intel, Microsoft, LG, Seagate
and Samsung ensure that all of its customers can be confident in the quality
of the technology and receive the most competitive pricing structure.

    For more information please contact:

    Dionne Barlow - Head of Marketing
    Stone
    Tel: +44(0)8448-221-122
    Tegan Boaler / Kirsty Cornell
    The itpr Group
    Tel: +44(0)1932-578-800

For more information please contact: Dionne Barlow - Head of Marketing, Stone, Tel: +44(0)8448-221-122, Tegan Boaler / Kirsty Cornell, The itpr Group, Tel: +44(0)1932-578-800