21. ITAD’s Best Kept Secrets: What we wish every company would do.

In this episode, we dive deep into the best-kept secrets of top-performing companies in technology reuse and recycling. Joining Stephanie McLarty is Bruce Hartley, Vice President of Business Development for Eastern Canada at Quantum Lifecycle, with 26 years of experience in ITAD and e-waste recycling.

Ever wondered what separates the best from the rest? Bruce shares valuable tips on communication, preparation, and getting optimal financial returns, and environmental impact when it comes to the disposal of e-waste.

Discover why early engagement matters, how open communication maximizes revenue, and the importance of proper inventory management. Bruce also sheds light on the sustainability benefits of technology reuse.

Stay tuned for an insider's perspective on what leading companies do differently and why it matters. If you're looking to make the most out of your e-waste, this episode is your cheat sheet!

Chapters:
00:01 Introduction

01:31 The Importance of Communication

03:27 Maximizing Revenue through Early Preparation

04:22 Finding Value in End-of-Life Assets

06:06 Engaging with ITAD Partners

07:22 Preparation and Timing for Small Businesses

08:50 Avoiding Delay in Asset Disposal

09:50 The Importance of Proper Packaging

11:37 Mistakes in Asset Preparation and Packaging

12:55 Promoting Reuse for Sustainability

13:23 Utilizing Sustainability Reports

15:17 Handling Changes in Contracts and Service Offerings

16:44 Importance of Accurate Inventory

Thanks for listening!

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Want to be a guest on The Circular Future podcast? Email Sanjay Trivedi at strivedi@quantumlifecycle.com

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Transcript

  (00:04.078)
There are outliers in every field where certain companies get extraordinary results. It's true even in IT asset disposition and e-waste recycling. What do these companies do differently? Welcome to the circular future. Your access to thought leaders and innovations to help you be a business sustainability champion. Even if it's not your core job. I'm your host, Stephanie McClarty, head of sustainability at Quantum Lifecycle Partners.

wish you could peek into what other leading companies do and get some tips? Perhaps even a cheat sheet? We're doing just that today in terms of the reuse and recycling of technology. How do these leaders manage their retired equipment differently and get outsized financial returns, environmental results and happiness? With me is Bruce Hartley, Vice President of Business Development for Eastern Canada here at Quantum Lifecycle.

Bruce is in his 26th year, servicing the ITAD and e-waste recycling sector, a journey that started when he co-founded his company of two that grew to over 110 employees with a national presence. Welcome to the podcast, Bruce. Thank you, Stephanie. Happy to be here. So today we're going to get into the best practices that you've seen from their approach and their communication and other factors that affect their results. But first I want to understand

Why does this actually matter? What have you seen? Well, Stephanie, we're often called upon, I would say at the 12th hour when it comes to the services that we provide. A lot of our customers, especially the larger ones, have started thinking about their procurement many, many months ahead of time. But when it comes to the actual disposal of their IT assets, they only think about us when they've gone to that stock room and opened it up and it's actually a potential employee health.

hazard because there's computers, laptops, and other devices that are accumulating in that room. So what do our best customers do? I would say they're the ones that have the best and open communication when it comes to the ITAD partner. And ideally, those are the ones that can even share with us and the partner or the ITAD partner the estimated disposal project when it's going to take place. And if I can elaborate on that a little bit more, an even better customer or partner is those that can actually share with us the details.

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of the assets that are coming up for disposal. And this becomes even more important when we're talking about niche type assets. So like laptops, computers and whatnot, cell phones, those are the easy commodity type assets. We can see those coming out on a daily basis. But when a customer has more server storage and networking devices that are coming up, if we can get a little bit of a window when those come up, it allows our marketing team to a better handle on the buyer, the potential buyers.

for these type of assets and it just creates a better potential return for our customers. So what kind of return would they see differently do you think by being more prepared coming to us earlier? Have you seen any specific examples? I mean definitely. Customers that can allow us or give us that window of opportunity to understand that they have X amount of Lenovo laptops or IBM servers or whatnot coming out.

it definitely gives us the opportunity to maximize their revenue. And this can be done through our wholesale channels, preparing our SMBs, because, you know, quantum also sells to small and medium sized businesses. So it allows us to prepare the table, if you will, or set the table to find the best, the best buyer for the best assets, which ultimately returns the most, most revenue for our customers. But first, I really want to understand why does this all matter?

What do our best customers get that others may be missing out on? Good question, Stephanie. Some companies might actually be listening to this and saying, you know, why are we talking about generating revenues from old IT assets? Isn't this just e-waste? And trust me when I say that there are many companies out there that just don't realize that there's value in their end of first life cycle assets, which are typically in the three to five year range. There are companies that are out there that have a service provider.

that are happy. Why are they happy? Because they're getting the services they require. They're getting the logistics, they're getting the data security services, and they're getting the reporting. And they're happy because it's not costing them a penny. We have a very large insurance company located in Quebec. In fact, they're top five in Canada by the name of Industrial Alliance, who fit into that type of customer in that they were dealing with a partner, an ITAD partner, getting the services they required. And they found it very appealing that they...

  (04:52.214)
that it wasn't costing them anything or the free disposal model was working for them. Roughly five to six years now that they've switched over to working with us, they have seen a net return totaling into the six digits. So that's going from zero dollars, zero returns to maximizing their return on investment by using a company that actually shares the revenue. And I think they're very happy about that. Wow.

they're still getting it picked up and they're getting the data wiped and they're getting this financial return. That's big dollars. It is. And trust me when I say that there are large companies out there, just think that the IT assets that when they're disposing...

It's a long ways from being e-waste. And as I mentioned, Quantum has resale channels, resale ability to remarket, give a second life, repurpose their IT assets and give them the maximum dollar for those assets. That's amazing. And just reminds me in episode two, we cover reuse versus recycling and when assets should fit into each one. So let's talk about these leading companies like Industrial Alliance that you mentioned. When you think about them and the leaders.

What do they do differently from the start? Like, do they contact us earlier? How are they engaging with us? Well, I think, you know, a good business practice in how they're engaging with us and how we, as their ITAD partner with them and other customers are engaging, is by setting good business practices to set quarterly business reviews. These meetings enable us, as a partner, to review the past. So we'll go over the past three months, look at all the IT assets that we disposed for them.

understand and explain to them the costs that were incurred for providing these services, providing them with the data security certificates and all the reporting they require. Also going over the revenues that were generated so they can get an idea of the ROI that's being generated by working with us. And I would say for ITAD companies that have the ability like

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Quantum does, it's a great opportunity for us to share the sustainability side. So we'll show them, we'll share with them the tons of CO2 that was avoided by doing business with us through our reuse and our recycling program. That's amazing. And for ITAD, IT asset disposition, for these larger companies, it sounds like having this regular cadence of when we check in with them is important. What about for a smaller business? What would that look like for them if, let's say, they've got a one-off pickup?

that they need done. How much time do we need? What does that preparation look like for them if they're going to be great at it and get the most results? We often say that we can always do miracles at Quantum and provide a 24-hour pickup. But in an ideal world, that timeframe with five to seven business days, and why I say that is because it allows us to plan properly to do the pickup, understand the pickup logistics and everything that has to be looked at. But it also provides Quantum with the ability to maximize our logistics routes.

which helps to keep our carbon footprint lower by maximizing our pickups within the same geographical area, as opposed to viewing a pickup here one day, going up there, next day going there and the third day going the same place. It allows us to plan our routes most efficient. Yeah. And that's so important to keep both costs and carbon down. It's important too that they reach out to us as soon as possible because there's also the notion of refresh cycles and getting the assets to market.

in good time. Otherwise, if you wait, you might miss out on the opportunity to sell them for more. Absolutely. Very, very important point. And I think this comes back to educating our customers. I can never say it enough that, you know, we have to, the more these assets sit on shelves, sit in warehouses, they do not gain in value. Once the assets become idle, they've been decommissioned, it is the time to quickly call your ITAD service provider and get that pick up done as soon as possible.

because they're collecting dust. And again, I said it, they're not gaining in value, they're depreciating in value every month. There's a security issue by having it sit in a warehouse or sit in a storage room, not necessarily being looked at and whatnot. So the quicker that our customers can get their assets into a secure quantum facility. In today's world with square footage pricing going through the roof, it's better for them to free up that space and put it to better use.

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Basically a little case study that was a few years ago where one of the large telecom companies held onto a bunch of modems, like literally skids of modems. They would have paid storage for the modems and eventually they got rid of it and it was too late. And literally, because I remember we said to them, if you dispose of this now, we could give you, it was literally in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. And then they waited and then they got essentially pennies on the dollar for it in the end because of that delay.

Okay, let's talk more about the operations and the preparation of the actual product. Can you see the difference? If you were to go for a walk in the warehouse, can you pinpoint, oh yeah, that company there, they know what they're doing. They're well organized versus another. If I see a large box, which we commonly called gale-hood boxes in our industry, from a customer and they just...

essentially threw everything into that large box. Obviously, the way that was the assets were put into that box were most likely thrown in and the assets on the bottom are being damaged. So that's a typical customer that I would want to go back to and say, Mr. customer, you're probably not understanding that there's value in these IT assets in the way you're disposing of it, but shows it. Here are ways that we can prevent damage from your IT assets. So

Quantum actually has specially designed laptop boxes that allows us to put their laptops on their side. And you can put about roughly about 72 of these laptops on a pallet, put another box on top and you're roughly around 150 laptops that can be picked up, stored at the customer site, picked up and brought back to a quantum facility without damaging these assets. And when we are able to do that, the customer wins and quantum wins because we're keeping the value of these assets to its maximum by not damaging them.

So that really speaks to the being proactive with us, reaching out, and we can actually work with you to help get the right packaging solutions to you if it's needed. What have you also seen in terms of some of the mistakes around actually preparing the product and the packaging that could be rectified? Yes, those mistakes. Well, I've seen lots of mistakes and lots of different ways that customers have thought they did the right thing. You know, by example,

  (11:37.71)
you know, disposing of a couple of hundred laptops and piling them up nice and neatly on a pallet, three feet, four feet high, nice and square and solid. And if you look at the laptops and you look at how much weight is put on the bottom and the bottom tier laptops, we're talking about a hundred to 200 pounds of weight that's being put on those laptops. It definitely is not helping.

that laptop in the bottom and the screen will come to us by the time we get to the audit process, the screen is damaged or the laptop has been damaged. So we have seen that when the open communication comes into play, come to us, we will provide you with the solutions to for the better packaging of those assets. And that's a win-win for the customer in Quantum, obviously. Yeah, obviously. And it gets more reuse value out. It's better for the environment to keep product in reuse. On that point, Stephanie.

hit the nail on the head when you're talking about reuse being more sustainable. Because obviously I'm not teaching you anything because you're the guru of the sustainability at Quantum. But every time we can offer our customers the option to reuse their assets, it's anywhere between 10 to 21 times more sustainable than going through these straight direct recycling. So we're always there to help promote whenever possible reuse or giving their IT assets a second life rather than going down the recycling channel. That's true.

And we give sustainability reports to our customers, which shows them this waste diversion metrics and also the carbon emissions avoidance that you mentioned. What are you seeing that some of our leading customers are doing with those reports internally and externally? Since Quantum has developed our carbon emission reduction calculator, nearly every customer has applauded it and uses it in their

CO2e reduction initiative reporting or as a PR statement to show their implication in helping or how they're helping to save our planet. Yeah, it's really great when we see our customers use these reports in their social media or in their impact reports that you're alluding to. But also I think that one of the greatest things is sharing it internally so the other employees know what the company is doing.

  (13:51.254)
but also the leadership knows. And I've seen it go right up to the board and be one of the ways that they measure and track their environmental performance as a company. So it's not something they're shoving in a drawer per se, which is really great. You're absolutely right, Stephanie, if I can just add on that, even at Quantum, we hold monthly communication meetings with all of our employees at a division level and Quantum sustainability efforts is something that we talk about.

So I think it actually creates a certain stickiness or employee retention that they're higher retention level that the employees that are proud to work for a company that's helping to save the planet. It's true. It really builds that culture internally of my company cares. Yep. So we've talked about that these leaders, they're prepared, they're clear and open with their communication, they're

packaging their skids well, they use their sustainability reports to their full advantage. There's one more thing that I want to get into and that is what happens if something changes in terms of contracts and service offerings? How is that handled? For example, what if a contract says that equipment has to be destroyed when there's actually a better reuse opportunity that might serve everyone?

handle that and approach those situations. The way that I approach that question or that situation with the customer is, we'll invite them to come out to visit one of our quantum facilities. The best opportunity for our customers to actually come into a quantum facility and see how rigorously we process their assets, look at the protocols in place, see how the facility is managed and run. Once they get into the facility and they can actually see the security levels that are in place.

and how we process their assets, I think they began to think that, yes, I can trust quantum in secure wiping my data and not destroying the assets for nothing, especially when there's value in them. And also understanding that it's a lot more sustainable to offer the reuse aspect versus the recycling. So seeing is believing is what I'm hearing. Absolutely.

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understanding how your ITAD partner is processing your assets and what those facilities look like is often a decision-making visit on with who you're going to be dealing with. What about now the inventory? Does it matter that they give us an accurate inventory? I think it depends on the customer and it depends on their security requirements. Believe it or not that some customers don't even know what they're disposing of and

They just essentially quantum is, are the ones actually giving them the report and saying, this is what you dispose of. We have other customers on the other end of the spectrum that actually provide us with a serial number listing of their list of IT assets to dispose of that we need to confirm that we've actually received those serial numbers within a minimal amount of days after they've been received at the facility.

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secured logistics. So we're actually putting a seal on the truck at the customer's site, taking a picture of the seal, bringing those assets back to the closest quantum facility. Again, confirming chain of custody by taking a picture of the seal intact with a quantum receiver badge proving that the load has been delivered to the quantum facility. So depending on the customer, some of them take it really, really seriously.

Again, to protect their data and making sure it's not breached. So if I were to summarize these tips today, from what I'm hearing, the leaders are prepared. They reach out to us early. They communicate with us regularly. They're clear and they're open in their communications. They use our portal. Operationally, they package the product well so it's not damaged. They have an accurate inventory in many cases.

and they really leverage the sustainability aspects and in fact our sustainability reports. Is that everything or did I miss anything? I think that sums it up pretty well Stephanie and again we're here to help. So if our customers or if the customers that are listening to this podcast do one, two, three of these aspects, not all of them, reach out to us and we're more than happy to help them put together an accurate and efficient IT asset disposal program for them.

Bruce, as we finish off this conversation, we've talked a lot about communication and being organized and so forth. What would be one thing you would leave our listeners with that they could do to really position themselves to get the most out of ITAD or e-waste recycling? My advice to the customers out there that are listening to this podcast, I would say do your due diligence. Be careful of...

the smoke and mirror aspects that some ITAD companies are offering. Free service, free this, free that. Ultimately, you get what you pay for. And I think that you need to do your due diligence and at a minimum, request a copy of their certifications. Are they really certified? In our industry, the major certification is the R2-V3, which is the latest version of the certification in our industry.

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There's also an AAA certification which Quantum holds, or even to my knowledge, the only ITAD company across Canada that has a security clearance called Protected V. So I would say due diligence is something of importance. And the more you can actually go out and visit, compare the two proposals or the three proposals you might have, if a site is possible for you, I recommend it all the time. We have a Quantum where our facilities are always ready for a customer visit.

That's just how we run our operations clean and efficient and secure. I'd ask them, you know, are they getting the most ROI from their assets? Are they making money from their assets? Because there is value. We talked about it. And you know, if not, call your sustainable superheroes at Quantum. That's right. Give us a call. And remember, we can walk you through these best kept secrets if you have retired technology. Head on over to QuantumLifecycle.com and contact us.

This is a Quantum Lifecycle podcast and the producer is Sanjay Trivedi. Thank you for being a circular future champion in your company and beyond. Logging off.