Newsletter March 2014
Metal Commodity Prices-Significant Fall In Value
Recent reports show our world economy growing yet metal commodity prices continue to fall significantly on a daily basis. Some believe that this shows that our reported growth may not be as good as reported.
Fears over China’s slowing growth so far in 2014 have hurt metal commodity prices. Copper prices have dropped 12% so far this year. There are many factors to take into account but concerns over China’s slowdown in production is a major one.
The World’s First Recyclable Cup
Not a lot of people know this, but paper cups are not recyclable. Soon to make its debut on the UK high streets is the “Green Your Cup” which is completely recyclable.
More than 2.5bn paper cups are thrown away each year in the UK. Very few are recycled and the rest end up in landfill. This creates 25,000 tonnes of waste per annum. Enough to fill London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Conventional paper cups are made from paper laminated with plastic. Under EU regulations, coffee cups cannot be made of 100% paper or cardboard alone. They have to have a layer of plastic which is bonded to the inside of the cup to keep your drink warm and to stop the cup going soggy. Almost all recycling plants will reject paper cups as it is almost impossible to remove the bonded plastic from within the cup. The result is they will all end up in a landfill.
How To Destroy Data On Your Computer Hard Drive
Many cases of used computers being purchased on internet and data being retrieved from them are often in the news. This can cause a lot of harm to individuals, companies and reputations. Heavy fines can also be imposed. So how can you be sure your data on your hard drive cannot be retrieved?
Firstly it would be good idea to point out your legal responsibilities. Under the Seventh Principal of the Data Protection Act 1998 it states that, all organisations must employ a 3rd party data destruction service to destroy all redundant and confidential information that can be in either paper or electronic format. It also needs to be certified that it has been done so. Therefore you should not attempt to destroy your own data yourself as this is breaking the law and fines can be up to £500,000.
Information Commissioners Office (ICO)
Data leaks on any level now are taken very seriously by the ICO and heavy fines are being imposed.
In our modern digital world companies have to be so careful in protecting the data they have from being stolen. This is not only for live data but also data that is on machines like old computers and documents for example.
On the 28th February 2014 the British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS) was fines by the ICO £200,000 for a serious data breach.
On the 8th March 2012, an attacker used an automated tool to identify website vulnerabilities in an attempt to gain unauthorised access to the BPAS website content Management System (CMS).
