Cases

When we drew up the award criteria for the public tender, we deliberately paid a great deal of attention to data security,” explains Veronique De Boever, purchaser at UZ Gent. "Because we wanted to exclude all the risks, we opted for data destruction on our own site. The hard disks are crushed by the shredder into tiny fragments measuring no more than 300 square millimetres. The destruction certificate always gives us valid proof that the data has been destroyed. As a recognised recycling business, Out Of Use also ensures the proper recycling of our hardware in accordance with the WEEE directive 2012/19/EU and the Waste Framework Directive 2008/98/EC.”
 

For every repurposed or recycled item we get a certificate that guarantees the destruction of all the data,” says Smals CEO Frank Robben. At the same time, we are extending our social mission by supporting social protection and health in a fully-fledged CSR policy, in terms of good governance, working conditions, environment, fair business practices and community involvement. For example, Smals uses 100% green electricity and keeps down the energy bill in its data centres with innovative air and water cooling. We fully reimburse commuting by public transport and sort our waste conscientiously. The specialist processing of ICT material, the proceeds from which we now donate to Natuurpunt for tree planting, is another very tangible return to society.

“For every repurposing or recycling of electronic data carriers such as PCs, laptops, mobile phones or copiers, we get a certificate that guarantees the destruction of all the data. At the same time, this collaboration expands our corporate vision of circular business practice. Environmental sustainability is a substantial part of our business plan. We put the environment at the heart of all our activities and in Out Of Use we’ve found the ideal partner!”

“A day without a smartphone has become unthinkable for many teenagers. That's exactly why we organised a mobile phone-free day with the management and the student council of the Royal Athenaeum Zottegem. The intention was to make students aware of the risk of dependence, and the dangers of cyber-bullying. Old mobiles were collected for the Out of Use and Natuurpunt’s ‘Recycleren voor Natuurpunt’ campaign to encourage everyone to adopt environmentally friendly recycling behaviour. In exchange for the mobiles new young trees were planted during Natuurpunt’s tree planting day. Our objective was achieved and we’ll certainly repeat such campaigns in the future.” 

As an international fintech leader, Sopra aims to minimise the environmental impact of their operations and reduce emissions. With this in mind, they were looking for a sustainable solution for their obsolete IT equipment: "The solutions offered by Out of Use is exactly what we were looking for. An all-in solution where creating new forest is the end result. Wonderful right?"

Turning a problem into an opportunity, that's what Engie Electrabel did at their recent move in the heart of Brussels. Thanks to the help of Out of Use, the energy company managed to process 14,000 kilograms of e-waste, save 400 tonnes of CO2 and donate more than 600 screens to charity. Read here how this sustainable collaboration came about.

"We are very pleased with these results. I would like to thank Out of Use for their professionalism and flexibility, it was a real pleasure to work with them. It wasn't the first time, and won't be the last."