The Development of an EMS is a strategic part of ASI operations.

ASI endeavours to comply with the ISO14001 environmental management standards. ASI has assessed the environmental impacts of the products / services provided by ASI Solutions in the Australian market.  ASI has set the following objectives and has a two year plan to attain them.  This strategy aims to positively impact the environment, use ASI / other resources better and stop wastage, bring profit by monitoring efficiency and to involve ASI staff with the plan. The overall result will also mean an enhanced company profile as an “environmentally conscious” company.

As an SME we adhere to QA guidelines but in this case we do not have an EMS certification. Many of our international alliances do have ISO EMS certifications.

Environmental Policy: 

As a responsible corporate citizen, ASI Solutions is committed to achieving sound environmental performance by controlling the impact on the environment of its products and services and by considering existing legislative and economic policies, to foster the protection of the environment. ASI is also focused on addressing anticipated environmental legislation and local IT industry directions.

ASI Solutions applies the same management system principles, consistent with the ISO 9000 series, as the basis for its environmental management system. (ASI Solutions is certified to ISO 9001:2008). ASI also uses the documented processes under ITIL to assist in EP initiatives.

The General Manager is responsible for the maintenance of the environmental management system, with the full support of the directors and senior management. Internal audits of the environmental management system are conducted on a regular basis and reviewed by senior management, to ensure continuous improvement. 

The Directors participate in industry Environmental working groups that the Federal, State Governments and local associations have established since 2007.

The objective is to consider the environmental impacts of deploying current technology and the disposal of obsolete equipment. Current ASI strategies, industry and Govt. policies are reviewed at the quarterly managers’ review meetings. 

Green House Gas (GHG) Reduction Policy:

ASI Solutions reviewed its position in the market place in 2009 and came up with a number of strategies to reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon footprint. ASI’s goals are not only to continue to introduce pioneering technology to the Australian marketplace but to continue to improve people’s quality of life. This quality of life aspect is intertwined with Climate Change and that would have to be the biggest challenge ASI have to face to continue global sustainability. With this is mind ASI have reviewed, and will continue to review its strategies to build our environmental strategies into the long term business plan of the company.

ASI Solutions emission Reduction Target of 3% on average per annum based on first recorded data figures for FY2009. The aim is to reduce our carbon foot print using the following methods:

• Employee Survey’s
• To improve employee awareness of energy and climate change and to empower employees to make a difference to the environment, by several methods: walking, biking, public transport or car-pooling. 
• Improving the data that is gathered on GHG’s
• Cut down on unnecessary business related flights on domestic & international destinations
• Allowing employees to work from home through management approval to reduce carbon emissions through transportation to and from the workplace and in turn reducing the workplace carbon footprint.

Company Objectives:

• To monitor the content of ASI products sold
• To be responsible for the disposal / recycle of IT equipment sold i.e. whole of life cycle 
• To review new local regulations and adopt
• To follow and adopt International QA and Environmental Standards for all ASI products
• To ensure our Supplier’s commitment to Local and International Environmental Strategies is aligned with the Australian Govt EPs.
• To continually review the environmental Impact of use of ASI product  by customer in daily IT functions
• To ensure the efficient use of Energy by ASI product 
• To consider End of Life disposal not only for Local but Off-Shore Impact
• To review monthly the ASI Corporate Internal Environment in terms of Environmental impact –in all offices

Some of the current considered schemes that ASI is commenting upon and will agree to include the following:

1. Customs Entry: All importers of IT equipment may be required to join a register in order to have the right to on sell imported IT equipment into the market. The underpinning legislative framework will impose penalties on importers and local manufacturers who fail to register. ASI has reviewed this measure and will agree to register and participate.  To date ASI has supplied to the AIIA and NSW DECCW the names of all major IT suppliers into Australia that ASI deals with. 
   
   Registered importers (and manufacturers such as ASI) might be required to pay an equitable portion of the cost of processing EOL IT waste from the date of commencement of a future scheme. 
   
   The cost of meeting this commitment might be borne in a number of different ways. ASI as an importer might either elect to bear our share (pro rata based on an analysis of imports) or the current cost of recycling our class of product in the market, or bear the cost of agreeing to mount a full scale brand based scheme covering both current and historic product (where ASI pays for the recycling of our branded product in the market).
   
   
2. Collection Points – ASI will agree to work with major  “co operative like” organisations to facilitate the aggregation of equipment from a variety of collection points and will agree to the shared cost of such recycling through a central PRO.   This will include collection and recycle costs.
   
   
3. Accreditations and Registers – ASI will agree to participate in an accreditation process or register should the Government determine this is the future policy.
   
   
4. Penalties – ASI agrees that both “brand” name and “unbranded” products should carry an end of life “recycle fee”. Those not adhering should be penalised or as another example might not be allowed to supply govt. 
   
   
5. Levy/ Funds/ Trusts – The actual current cost of recycling the equipment could be collected at the first time of sale through an Environmental Levy.  Funds accumulated would be used to recycle orphan equipment, The expectation that in the future the EOL recycle costs will be greatly reduced to ensure we cover today’s products and historical. ASI would agree to these fees being collected Monthly, Quarterly as directed by Govt.

Current Product Recycling:

ASI Solutions has introduced a number of strategies which relate to the whole life cycle of the products from refurbishment right through to recovery of base and precious metals employing at all times responsible waste minimisation and environmentally friendly strategies. 

Packaging: ASI complies with EPA and other environmental guidelines. ASI uses parts and components that comply with international norms for our industry. In our production facility we realise that the main waste products we produce are cardboard based.  The Cardboard and paper waste are collected by SITA Environmental Solutions. All the packaging is biodegradable. ASI can take back the packaging from the client’s site for proper disposal or for recycling.

ASI minimises the use of plastics in the packaging we ship our products in and to that end we use recycled cardboard packaging almost entirely. The cardboard is also non-bleached and the inks used are biodegradable. 

Other Certifications: It is the policy of ASI solutions to source product that complies with not only C-Tick certification but also TCO (supporting the world wide requirement for conservation of ecology, energy, emissions and ergonomics. 98% of ASI product conforms to the Energy Star Certifications.

External strategies for recycling: For end of lease/rollover computer equipment ASI includes lease buyback arrangements where at the end of the lease period ownership reverts back to either ASI or the lease company and the product is resold to needy entities. This is purely to extend the life of the system. Further environmental policies are in place to breakdown the final end of life product...

Subject to client needs, ASI aims to extend product life through product or component reuse, however we have the processing technologies to disassemble complex equipment and ensure individual material types are recovered and recycled wherever viable. Combined with our partners ASI will remove at no charge, unwanted computer equipment...

Computers contain Gold, Silver, and Palladium in the circuitry and chips. We inspect boards for resalable chips. We remove the boards and other precious metal bearing products process them through an EPA approved facility. Particularly high value items are separated and refined separately. Other component parts of the computer are processed to recover Copper, Aluminium, and resaleable items such as cooling fans, castors and power supplies. The low value processed scrap is exported for more cost effective processing through a fully approved and licensed facility. All exported material has been processed to remove hazardous material to ensure compliance with international conventions.

We have a fully equipped and experienced staff capable of meeting most problems encountered in equipment removal.

There are only a few operators in Australia licensed to remove PCB contained material from IT products. ASI chooses to work with those approved by the EPA to comply with strict limitations on discharges. We also are in regular contact with Environment Australia and comply with the Hazardous Waste (Regulation of Exports and Imports) Act 1989. 

As mentioned above ASI has committed to the recycling of all computer components this includes CRT in Sydney. These plants are capable of dismantling and resource recovery in an environmentally friendly fashion:

• Plastics
• Electronic Breakage
• Heavy metal contained glass
• Screen linings

Hazardous Waste: ASI understands regulatory requirements and can ensure that any hazardous substances or problematic components are managed safely and in compliance with relevant policies, regulations, conventions and codes of practice. ASI is developing 'end-of-life feedback' procedures that will provide the original product designers with valuable information about problematic materials and the associated disassembly and management issues.

Under current controlled QA procedures there are defined procedures for hazardous handling, management and disposal.  Where possible these are linked to OH&S policies.

Internal recycling for ASI as a corporation: Scrap paper is recycled through Australian Paper Chase.  All printer and photocopier toner is recycled through Planet Ark.

All reporting and documentation such as customer invoices, statements, end of month/end of year sales and accounting reports etc are held electronically rather than in paper form.  This allows multiple people access to view information without the requirement of everyone requiring their own paper copy.

Payslips and payroll forms are available over the internet and lodged electronically with the Payroll department after electronic approval from their manager.  These electronic forms integrate directly into the payroll program alleviating the necessity for paper copies.  Scanning is used to move key external documents between depts. to save paper / time.

The main ERP system traces every business procedure electronically – customers can check everything about their accounts electronically no need for paper.

Document Scanning and Archiving is also an internal company strategy to also assist in recycling.

Powersaving: “daylight” fluorescent lighting is used in parts of the building. A management focus requires all desktop computers to be turned off of a night as well as all lighting. All Air- Conditioning runs on timers that match the working hours of the offices nationally.

All photocopiers, notebooks, printers and monitors revert to a powersaving “sleep mode” if not used within a certain period conserving energy. 

Future Strategies: 

ASI as part of the local Industry has been asked to participate in IT industry Groups to review the national IT environment for current and future directions for Environmental Policies. It is considered by ASI that a future strategy would be to holding $ deposits in trust to be used by the community when old IT equipment is to be recycled to allay the costs incurred by breaking down the equipment.

ASI will not ship end of life equipment to international countries where there is no environmental strategies for disposal. This is company corporate policy to safeguard the international community.

Government and Industry committees:

ASI has participated with the Federal and State Governments to establish the total strategy for recycling in Australia.

Measuring our Success:

As part of the company’s commitment to OHS&R the company has a monthly committee meeting who also offer input and set up goals and objectives to measure (EP) objectives. The company sees that OHS&R link to EP considerations for both staff and the community.

ASI Audits are firstly based on reviewing pertinent legislations and reporting on compliance and deficiencies

• ASI proposed corrective actions based upon time frames
• ASI investigates incidents as they are reported through state managers and team members
• ASI reports to senior management through these teams for reviews at managers meetings
• ASI audits confirm responsibilities and roles of those involved

Our aim is to offer a full range of services in the area of removing redundant equipment from refurbishment right through to recovery of base and precious metals employing at all times responsibly.

Environmental Impact Identification:

ASI conducts internal audits to review our EP according to current legislations and reports back to the EP Committee at the monthly EP committee meetings.

Results including compliance and deficiencies are reviewed with managers during the management meetings to allow for changes in processes and govt. regulations.

Committee Responsibilities:

1. The EP Committee is responsible for the ongoing development of the EP policy and processes.  
2. The General Manager leads the EP committee and oversees reporting back to the Department Managers. 
3. The Board works with the NSW State Govt. the AIIA industry working group and the Federal Govt on the current industry initiatives for EP in particular the disposal of IT equipment.