Two thirds of UK businesses have switched to eco-friendly vendors

Almost two thirds of UK businesses have switched to partnering with an environmentally conscious vendor, but what is the reasoning behind this?

A new study by EuroPC has revealed that nearly two thirds of UK business owners admit they’ve made the switch to partner with an environmentally conscious vendor (64%)

The leading reason for doing so is to protect the reputation of the business (48%)

A lack of time (36%), the cost (30%) and not knowing how to (25%) are the top reasons stopping UK business owners from repairing their own equipment

The team at www.EuroPC.co.uk has surveyed 2,200 UK business owners to understand why UK businesses are now choosing to partner with environmentally conscious vendors. The study found that nearly two thirds of UK business owners admit they’ve made the switch to partner with an environmentally conscious vendor (64%).

The most common reasons that UK business owners have elected to partner with the vendors are:

·        Protect the reputation of the business – 48%

·        Eliminate compliance risks – 21%

·        Ensure data is destroyed – 20%

·        Reduce carbon footprint – 11%

Over four fifths of UK business owners said they have spent time over the last year assessing whether it is worth trying to repair their own equipment rather than sending it straight to recycling or having a vendor that does it for them (82%).

When asked why they would opt against repairing their own equipment, the most frequent answers were lack of time (36%), the cost of doing so (30%) and not knowing how to repair the equipment (25%).

The study was completed as part of EuroPC’s ongoing investigation into the relationship between refurbished technology and sustainability. As such, UK business owners were also quizzed on possible initiatives such as having ‘drop-off’ points for e-waste recycling, to which just 18% said they have an existing scheme in place but over three quarters said they are open to trialling it (76%). Only 6% of UK business owners said they have no interest in the initiative.

Over two thirds of UK business owners also said they'd be interested in taking part in repair initiatives as well, as the cost of repairing equipment is significantly lower than replacing it (68%).

When asked which technology business owners felt they needed the most help with – whether it was not knowing how to recycle it, not knowing how to repair it or any other assistance – and led them to partner with a vendor, the most frequents answers were:

·        Laptops – 38%

·        Phones – 33%

·        PCs – 20%

·        Tablets – 14%

·        Monitors – 9%

Alan Gilmour, Managing Director at www.EuroPC.co.uk, commented on the findings: “The increase in businesses switching to partner with an environmentally conscious vendor is a positive step in the right direction, but the reasons for doing so could be seen as disconcerting. Taking proactive steps to help the environment shouldn’t be motivated by protecting the reputation of a business, which was the case for nearly half of the UK business owners surveyed. In any case, the findings are still encouraging and hopefully the trend will continue to grow in the years to come.”