London, 18th April 2007 - Dataserv, the UK's leading asset retirement solution provider for ethical recycling and reuse of electronic and electrical equipment, will be a key participant at Solving the E-Waste Problem's (StEP) launch to the United Nations and National representatives in New York today.  As a founder member of StEP, and the only charter member from the UK private sector, Dataserv is taking a pioneering role in raising awareness of the hazards of e-waste and promoting the creation of global standards in the processes of recycling electronic scrap (e-scrap) to harvest valuable materials and minimise environmental pollution.

One of the fastest growing components of the global waste stream, e-scrap is also, arguably, one of the most troublesome. The European Environmental Agency calculates that the volume of e-scrap is now rising roughly three times faster than other forms of municipal waste.  The total annual global volume of e-scrap is soon expected to reach roughly 40 million metric tons enough to fill a line of tipper lorries stretching half way around the world.   

At StEP's launch on 19th April, Dataserv will spearhead two - ReUse and ReCycle -of StEP's five taskforces, which will help shape government policies worldwide and address the issues related to re-design and product life expectancy, reuse and recycling, and help build relevant capacity in developing nations.

The ReUse taskforce will focus on the development of replicable and sustainable reuse/refurbishment/spare parts development systems in order to minimise environmental, health and safety impact, while the major objective of the ReCycle taskforce will be to enhance infrastructures, systems and technologies to recognise sustainable e-waste recycling.  Dataserv will be at the forefront of the taskforce's efforts to initiate international, inter-stakeholder cooperative activities and dialogues on a scientific basis to find economically, environmentally and socially sound solutions to the growing problem of e-waste.

Neal Saunders, Managing Director, Dataserv, comments: "The enormous growth in e-waste, particularly from computing and office equipment, is being fuelled by the transition from analogue to digital technology.  As a result, we're seeing rapid product innovation and shorter lifecycles as both consumers and businesses replace electronic equipment with increasing frequency.  While the developed nations may have rigorous processes in place to deal with e-scrap, in many less developed countries that is certainly not the case; in fact, many unscrupulous recyclers often use the developing countries as dumping grounds for e-waste or as illegal recycling centres."

"Through StEP, we hope to educate the developing nations about the best practice of dealing with electronic scrap and create a change in global thinking about the treatment of e-waste. I am therefore delighted that we are speaking at both the ReUse and ReCycling taskforces. This is a global issue not just one country's problem and it's crucial that we awaken the consciousness of the United Nations to the perils of the reuse and recycling of electronic equipment."

Ruediger Kuehr, United Nations University's StEP Secretariat, says, "A global guide to dismantling e-scrap and maximizing the recovery and controlling of recovered substances is a major StEP objective. We are pleased to have a pan-European company such as Dataserv as a founder member and are confident that their in depth experience of recycling and reusing electrical and electronic equipment will have a major impact towards achieving StEP's objectives."

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About StEP
StEP (Solving the E-Waste Problem) is an international initiative comprising various United Nation organizations with the overall objective to solve the global e-waste problem.  The StEP initiative is the offspring of UNU, the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD).  Other prominent charter partners include the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), University of California at Berkeley, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Technical University Vienna (Austria), French National Institute of Telecommunication (France), Technical University Delft (Netherlands), University of Melbourne (Australia), State Secretary of Economics and EMPA (Switzerland), Regional Environmental Centre (Hungary), the Korea Institute of Geoscience & Mineral Resources, and Umicore Precious Metal Refining (Belgium).  The mission of the UNU is to contribute, through research and capacity building, to efforts to resolve the pressing global problems that are the concern of the United Nations and its Member States.

About Dataserv
Dataserv (www.dataservuk.com)  founded in 1976 is the UK's leading asset retirement solution provider for ethical recycling and reuse of electronic and electrical equipment.  The company's mission is to protect every size of business, in all major industries across Europe, from the administrative, security and ecological liabilities of their unwanted IT resources. Clients benefit from peace of mind that all sensitive data will be eradicated, knowledge that the environment is protected from harmful bi-products and satisfaction that the full value of any re-useable components has been realised, either as an additional revenue stream, or for charitable donation.
With a turnover of £11 million, Dataserv employs a total of 100 staff across its seven European processing locations (three in the UK, two in Germany, one in France, Spain and Finland). The company's high level of competence in information security, quality and environmental management is demonstrated by its ISO 9001 and 14001, BS7799 and OHSAS 18001 accreditations.