IT recycling and reuse charity Computer Aid International has today launched a new best practice guide and asset tracking designed to help ensure firms donating IT kit to the organisation are fully compliant with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, which comes into effect this weekend.

The organisation said that new asset tracking and reporting service would provide donors with all the documentation required for WEEE compliance and also let them know exactly which schools, hospitals or community project their computers are benefiting.

It added that the new service would also exceed the requirements of the new law, which places no obligation on waste handlers to ensure data held on IT kit if destroyed, by recording when each PC was wiped using the Blancco data deletion service.

Separately the charity has also launched a new free guide www.computeraid.org/weee_guide.htm designed to help businesses understand the implications of the new legislation and explain why re-use of IT kit represents the most environmentally responsible form of disposal.

"Faced with a host of conflicting information, many businesses are either confused about the directive or are totally unaware that it affects them at all, " observed Tony Roberts, CEO of Computer Aid. "Our new WEEE guide and services are aimed at helping companies of all sizes understand the law and realise that there is an alternative to recycling equipment for its component materials that is much better for the environment. That alternative is re-use."