The programme recycles scrapped drives in accordance with the guidelines of the Environment Agency's Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive), even though drives are not covered by the legislation.

Once the drive has been removed for recycling, ABB issues a certificate that can be used for environmental audits by end users complying with ISO 14001.

ABB has an agreement with recycling company and approved waste carrier, RID, to transport and recycle the drives within the UK. The company collects the old drives from ABB Drives Alliance partners, while large drives or large quantities of smaller drives are collected directly from the end user.

Jon Clews, ABB's recycling manager, says: "One of the major advantages of our swappage scheme is that we already have the recycling infrastructure in place, so customers considering swapping out old drives can rest assured that they will be recycled according to the regulations. The recycling programme is a very attractive incentive."

Contact: ABB

Tel: 01925 741 111