NetApp E-waste Program

Electronic waste or “e-waste” is a generic term used to describe obsolete, broken, or discarded electrical and electronic equipment.

NetApp generates roughly a million pounds of e-waste each year globally, and there are three important reasons why we have implemented a global program to manage this material in a responsible way – our culture of sustainability, compliance obligations, and data protection concerns.

E-waste may contain hazardous and toxic substances such as lead, mercury, cadmium, chromium and other heavy metals which pose a risk to human health and the environment if not disposed of and handled properly.

We collect and dispose of e-waste in a responsible manner to minimize our environmental impact, and to protect the health and safety of the communities where we do business.

NetApp is subject to a wide range of regulations, and some states and countries have unique requirements for the management of e-waste. As an example, under the EU’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulation, the producer (in this case, NetApp) is responsible for the collection and disposal of any e-waste sold to a customer in Europe. Similarly in India, we have an External Producer Responsibility (EPR) plan. Our global program allows us to meet all of our regulatory obligations.

Much of the e-waste generated by NetApp and our customers contains sensitive data. To minimize the chance that this information can fall into the wrong hands, we need to manage how this waste is collected and handled.

Our global program, run in partnership with our e-waste provider, helps us ensure that any potential sensitive data is securely wiped according to industry best practices. We have full traceability to ensure that sensitive data is wiped from all drives that are resold, and that any other drives and components are destroyed.

NetApp’s Sustainability team manages e-waste collected from a number of different sources:

• End-of-life and end-of-lease equipment
• Customer equipment returned via the WEEE compliance program, and our product take-back program (customers can visit the support site to fill out and submit the product take-back form)
• Customer equipment coming back through the Sales Return Authorizations

If you are a customer in India, please use the toll-free number included below. For all other global locations, customers can visit the support site to fill out and submit the product take-back form. For more information, customers should reach out to their client executive(s), or contact the NetApp global e-waste team: ng-ewaste-ntap@netapp.com.

India Toll Free 1800 572 8469