Ecotech Services administration, Author at Ecotech Services

Ecotech Services is now a secondhand dealer

Ecotech Services administration

20 September 2016

We have been notified today that as of 13 September 2016 Ecotech Services Ltd is a licensed Secondhand Dealer and Alan Liefting has a Secondhand Dealers certificate.

Ecotech Services Ltd license number: 16-034091
Alan Lieftings’ certificate number: 16-034092

Details are listed on the public register at the Ministry for Justice.

An increasing amount of our work comes under the purview of the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act so our level of trading may soon reach the threshold defined in the Act.

administration, recycling
Global e-waste flows

Ecotech Services administration

6 August 2016

E-waste processing is shifting polluting industries from the developed to the developing world, as illustrated by this infographic from Nature. This has been happening for a number of decades (and credit goes to BAN and others in bringing it to the attention of the public) and over that time has spread to additional countries.

e-waste
Repair technicians’ creed

Ecotech Services administration

17 June 2016

Repair technicians should follow a code of ethics and the statements below, as defined by iFixit, is how we run our business. We promise to always observe the following:

Honesty in Business

We are honest in business dealings. Our contracts, invoices, bills, statements of work, and all other business documents are accurate and honest.

Integrity in Advertising

Advertising for our company and services does not stretch the truth or misrepresent reality.

Privacy with Client Data

All private information that our clients share with us is confidential. All data on the software/hardware we work with is kept confidential. When we refurbish or recycle hardware, all user data is removed according to data security best practices.

Commitment to Environmental Responsibility

All e-waste generated by our business is recycled responsibly and in accordance with all local laws.

Respect for the Law

We abide by all local, regional, and national laws dealing with my business, employees, taxes, e-waste, and software licensing.

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administration, repair
Repair Manifesto

Ecotech Services administration

4 December 2015

Ecotech Services supports the Ifixit Repair Manifesto.

repair
Climate change and e-waste

Ecotech Services administration

2 December 2015

The COP21 climate change conference is currently in progress. While the major focus of climate change is around the use of fossil fuels there are other aspects that are drivers of climate change. One of these is waste.

Ecotech Services is working towards zero e-waste to landfill and takes all practicable steps in reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the process. We have a range of environmental policies in place to minimise waste and to minimise greenhouse gas emissions from our day to day operations.

In addition to these in-house measures the work that we do in repairing, refurbishing, and recycling various products leads to a net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Repairing and refurbishing means that the embodied energy (that which has been used to produce and transport the item) is used over a longer period of time. Recycling, one of the other areas in which we work, is virtually always a better option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Due predominantly to the complexities of supply chains, doing emissions calculations for the work done by Ecotech Services is a difficult exercise. The New Zealand’s Greenhouse Gas Inventory 1990-2013 shows that emissions from waste itself has remained fairly constant over a thirteen year period, and in 2013 were 6.2% of total emissions. Of that 96.4% were from landfill methane emissions.

Landfill methane emissions are created by the break down of organic material. Since Ecotech Services generally only disposes of inert materials such as plastics, glass, and rubber rather than organic material, the climate change footprint of our waste disposal is very low. Additionally, the plastics going to landfill (which are problematic in terms of recycling) can be considered to be carbon sequestration.

climate change, e-waste, waste
Second hand can be more reliable than new

Ecotech Services administration

11 August 2015

Ecotech Services sells a range of second hand equipment that has been repaired or refurbished. We can offer a warranty on the equipment without fear of incurring high costs (resulting from warranty repair or for refunds) to us for a number of reasons, including our experience on failure modes and the typical faults that are expected, and because of our judgement on where it lies on the bathtub curve.

The bathtub curve is a concept in engineering that describes the reliability of a product during its lifetime. It shows that a product is more likely to fail when it is very new or very old.

The bathtub curve is a concept that describes statistical chance of when a product fails at different points over its useful lifetime.
Image: Wikimedia Commons

In our experience the bathtub curve does appear to be applicable for a wide range of commercial, industrial, and consumer products. However, since we don’t often have reliable data on total product sales versus number of product failures our evidence on the veracity of the bathtub curve is merely anecdotal.

If the bathtub curve is valid for a particular product and we sell it during the constant failure rate section of the curve, then we can quite rightly make the claim that they are statistically more reliable than new ones. This is assuming that we correctly assess that the product is not in the increasing failure rate of the curve, and that the manufacturer has sold the product with a minimal burn in. These are both reasonable assumptions.

electronics, repair
Health and Safety Reform Bill

Ecotech Services administration

3 August 2015

Ecotech Services welcomes the news that the Health and Safety Reform Bill has been amended by removing the requirement for a health and safety committee for organisations with less than 20 people. This is a positive move for small businesses who are encumbered with high compliance costs.

Statistical data shows that since 1992 there has been no real change in the number of workplace deaths. Given that there has been a major shift towards having a strong culture of workplace safety, it appears that no amount of government or company policy is reducing the current number of workplace deaths. The law of diminishing returns can possibly be applied to health and safety measures, and if so we would be in the long tail of having vanishingly small returns for any new policy that is put in place.

From Gunby, P., How Bad is the State of Occupational Fatalities in New Zealand? New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations 36(1): 35-51

The case is almost exactly the same for electricity related safety. There has been no statistical change in the number of notifiable electrical accidents causing death over the past 20 years but there has been a slight decrease in the number of injuries.

Over this period, there has been a number of policy changes relating to electrical safety; the Electrical Workers Registration Board was formed in 1992, a raft of prescriptive standards have been introduced, electrical regulations have been updated, and in 2015 the practising licences for electrical workers are now required to have photo identification.

From 2008 Summary of Reported Electrical and Gas Accidents (Published 19 May 2009)

We realise that statistics are of no use to those who have been injured or are grieving over the death of a loved one, but they are essential for the formulation of sound policy.

[Edited – 11 August 2015]

administration, safety
Electrical safety and appliance refurbishment

Ecotech Services administration

22 July 2015

Any new or used appliance that is sold or supplied in New Zealand must conform to the relevant legislation, which in this case is the Electrical (Safety) Regulations 2010. Ecotech Services carries out refurbishment of appliances that have been discarded but we have difficulty obtaining these due to the way these regulations are interpreted by some individuals and organisations.

Section 80(3) of the regulations states:

A used appliance is, for the purpose of this regulation, deemed to be electrically safe if, at the time it is sold or offered for sale,—
    (a) it is tested, inspected, and tagged in accordance with AS/NZS 5761; or
    (b) it has been disabled and marked in accordance with AS/NZS 4701; or
    (c) in the case of a used electrical medical device, it is tested and marked in accordance with AS/NZ 3551.

In practice, for discarded appliances, this usually means the power cord is cut off as per the AS/NZS 4701 standard, regardless of whether the appliance is electrically safe or not. This makes the refurbishment process carried out by Ecotech Services uneconomic for many appliances due to the time involved in installing a new power cord to the relevant standards.

As a means by which Ecotech Services can obtain intact, discarded appliances, an adviser at WorkSafe New Zealand suggested that testing to AS/NZS 5761 be done prior to the sale or supply in order to remain within the bounds of the regulation. There is possibly a grey area in what is defined as supply, at what point in the transportation of the items for example, but this level of detail is, according to the advice given, not something that is likely to be questioned in a court of law. It is also not something that is seen as an issue by WorkSafe New Zealand. This is because a distinction can be made between possession and ownership of an item.

Based on the advice given Ecotech Services can assure clients that they are able to supply untested appliances to us. We have the appropriate staff and testing equipment to ensure legislative requirements are met.

appliances, safety
Ecotech Services is now registered as a company

Ecotech Services administration

30 June 2015

As of June 16, 2015 Ecotech Services became incorporated as a company rather than being a sole trader. This gives our expanding business a number of advantages including the ability for interested parties to invest in the company. Being a company will make us a more credible organisation and the high level of integrity and commitment to environmental protection will remain.
Ecotech Services Ltd is committed in the long term to reducing the environmental impact of technology through the repair, refurbishment, and recycling of electrical, electronic, and computer equipment.
Our record at the Companies Office can be viewed here.

administration
Global E-Waste Monitor 2014 report

Ecotech Services administration

28 April 2015

The United Nations University (UNU) have released the Global E-Waste Monitor 2014 report. It is estimated that less than one sixth of the e-waste generated globally was diverted from landfills and either recycled or reused.

New Zealand generates 19kg per capita giving a national total of 86,000 tonnes. Australia, with which we have close economic ties and similarities in culture, generates 20kg per capita, however they have legislation in place for mandatory e-waste recycling whereas New Zealand does not.

Given that e-waste contains toxic material and recoverable resources there is a lot of work required to make electrical and electronics technology sustainable.

Discarded Kitchen, Laundry, Bathroom Equipment Comprises Over Half of World E-waste – United Nations University

E-waste last year contained US$52 billion in resources, large volumes of toxic material; most is not collected for recovery or treatment New United Nations University report details e-waste generation by region.

The full, high resolution report can be downloaded from the UNU.

e-waste