administration Archives | Page 2 of 2 | Ecotech Services Limited

New employee – Angus Phillips

Ecotech Services administration

19 October 2016

Ecotech Services welcomes Angus Phillips as a new employee on a part time basis. Angus is employed primarily as a computer technician but will help out with some of the many other tasks that need doing.

Angus is self taught in the complexities of IT related matters and will be taking on the full range of work, from hard drive reformatting to setting up server systems.

Angus brings a fresh approach and fresh ideas to Ecotech Services. This, along with his enthusiasm, is likely to make him a great asset to the company. Also, having compatible humour, similar interests, and a similar ideology to that of other staff members will help him fit in at the company.

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administration, computers
Ecotech Services is now a secondhand dealer

Ecotech Services administration

20 September 2016

We have been notified today that as of 13 September 2016 Ecotech Services Ltd is a licensed Secondhand Dealer and Alan Liefting has a Secondhand Dealers certificate.

Ecotech Services Ltd license number: 16-034091
Alan Lieftings’ certificate number: 16-034092

Details are listed on the public register at the Ministry for Justice.

An increasing amount of our work comes under the purview of the Secondhand Dealers and Pawnbrokers Act so our level of trading may soon reach the threshold defined in the Act.

administration, recycling
Repair technicians’ creed

Ecotech Services administration

17 June 2016

Repair technicians should follow a code of ethics and the statements below, as defined by iFixit, is how we run our business. We promise to always observe the following:

Honesty in Business

We are honest in business dealings. Our contracts, invoices, bills, statements of work, and all other business documents are accurate and honest.

Integrity in Advertising

Advertising for our company and services does not stretch the truth or misrepresent reality.

Privacy with Client Data

All private information that our clients share with us is confidential. All data on the software/hardware we work with is kept confidential. When we refurbish or recycle hardware, all user data is removed according to data security best practices.

Commitment to Environmental Responsibility

All e-waste generated by our business is recycled responsibly and in accordance with all local laws.

Respect for the Law

We abide by all local, regional, and national laws dealing with my business, employees, taxes, e-waste, and software licensing.

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administration, repair
Health and Safety Reform Bill

Ecotech Services administration

3 August 2015

Ecotech Services welcomes the news that the Health and Safety Reform Bill has been amended by removing the requirement for a health and safety committee for organisations with less than 20 people. This is a positive move for small businesses who are encumbered with high compliance costs.

Statistical data shows that since 1992 there has been no real change in the number of workplace deaths. Given that there has been a major shift towards having a strong culture of workplace safety, it appears that no amount of government or company policy is reducing the current number of workplace deaths. The law of diminishing returns can possibly be applied to health and safety measures, and if so we would be in the long tail of having vanishingly small returns for any new policy that is put in place.

From Gunby, P., How Bad is the State of Occupational Fatalities in New Zealand? New Zealand Journal of Employment Relations 36(1): 35-51

The case is almost exactly the same for electricity related safety. There has been no statistical change in the number of notifiable electrical accidents causing death over the past 20 years but there has been a slight decrease in the number of injuries.

Over this period, there has been a number of policy changes relating to electrical safety; the Electrical Workers Registration Board was formed in 1992, a raft of prescriptive standards have been introduced, electrical regulations have been updated, and in 2015 the practising licences for electrical workers are now required to have photo identification.

From 2008 Summary of Reported Electrical and Gas Accidents (Published 19 May 2009)

We realise that statistics are of no use to those who have been injured or are grieving over the death of a loved one, but they are essential for the formulation of sound policy.

[Edited – 11 August 2015]

administration, safety
Isn’t the internet wonderful

Alan Liefting

4 July 2015

With all of this electronics and computer technology we have got things really good. My toaster pops up when the toast is done just right. I can video Skype my mates on the other side of the world for free. I can see how little money I have in my bank account at any time of the day or night. I can take really good pictures with my little camera (and sometimes bad ones with my big camera). I can find and play all sorts of music that I have a sudden urge to listen to. I can watch all sorts of films and tv programmes whenever I want. I can watch all sorts of rubbish that I like to laugh at.

But I think the best thing about technology is that I can lie here on the couch in our lounge and do most of the administration of my little business empire.

This picture has nothing to do with this blog post except that it has a couch in it. Our old one at that. This is Tom playing cat and mouse on our couch back in 2004. Tom was the neighbours cat. RIP Tom. You were a good cat. You had a personality. Anyway, this is the internet. We got to get all of our cat photos uploaded on to it don’t we?

administration, cats
Ecotech Services is now registered as a company

Ecotech Services administration

30 June 2015

As of June 16, 2015 Ecotech Services became incorporated as a company rather than being a sole trader. This gives our expanding business a number of advantages including the ability for interested parties to invest in the company. Being a company will make us a more credible organisation and the high level of integrity and commitment to environmental protection will remain.
Ecotech Services Ltd is committed in the long term to reducing the environmental impact of technology through the repair, refurbishment, and recycling of electrical, electronic, and computer equipment.
Our record at the Companies Office can be viewed here.

administration
Envirostep evaluation report

Ecotech Services administration

24 September 2014
Ecotech Services has answered the Envirostep questionnaire to determine how good our environmental performance is ranked. Interestingly, although we are aware of the various environmental issues facing our society (and indeed the planet) and we take our environmental protection measures very seriously, our overall ranking was only a mere 34%. This was broken down into an Environmental Performance of 38.5% and an Environmental Management of 32.3%.

Environmental Performance (38.5%)
1. Energy 25.2 %
2. Water 84.8 %
3. Waste 12.1 %
4. Transport 11.7 %
5. Site 38.5 %

Environmental Management (32.3%)
6. Planning 29.4 %
7. Compliance 40.0 %
8. Operations 21.0 %
9. Information 60.0 %

The automated response to the questionnaire gave the following recommendations:
- Transport
  - Consider replacing your vehicles with more fuel efficient alternatives
  - Find out the rated fuel economy of your light vehicle(s)
  - Get your drivers to check tyre pressures monthly
- Site
  - Modify your activities or site to make them more compatible
  - Find out if your business is compatible with neighbouring land uses
  - Find out if you have an inspection regime for your site/facilities
- Planning
  - Review reported accidents, incidents & complaints
- Operations
  - Develop emergency response procedures
They are all valid suggestions but for transport running our older vehicles is not a particularly important issue since their usage is minimised through the use of courier services, telecommunications, and bicycles. As for accidents, incidents and complaints, they could be divided into human health and safety, and environmental issues. Note that we have not had any accidents, incidents, or complaints to date.

In defence of our low ranking we are would like to think that our environmental ethics are good and our environmental conscience is clear because the actual work that we do – namely minimising the e-waste generation and energy consumption – has a high net environmental benefit.

A spreadsheet of the Envirostep report is filed here.
administration
Submission on priority products intervention

Ecotech Services administration

2 July 2014

Ecotech Services has made a submission on the Ministry for the Environment Priority waste streams for product stewardship intervention discussion document.
Given the level of harm created by e-waste and the potential for economic growth from the repair, refurbishment, and recycling of electrical products Ecotech Services strongly supports having them declared as “priority products” by the Minister for the Environment.
See our submission here and our product stewardship page for more information.

administration
Product stewardship for hazardous waste

Ecotech Services administration

22 May 2014

Last week Amy Adams, the Minister for the Environment, said on TVOne news that the TV Takeback scheme will have to put out for tender again. This came after an announcement that the government funded TV Takeback scheme had run into difficulties (see our earlier blog post).

The Government has now announced a consultation process for hazardous waste. E-waste comes under this definition and it is one of the fastest growing sectors of the waste stream. Given the problems encountered with televisions alone it is important that end of life disposal of these products is address.

Since voluntary measures have been shown to give a low recycling rate Ecotech Services advocates product stewardship for durable goods. One method of administering a product steward system in a deposit refund system, of which bottle deposit is the most well known example.

Televisions, as well as other appliances, are sometimes seen discarded on the streets of Christchurch. In this case it is next to the Styx Mill Conservation Reserve.
Image: Alan Liefting

administration
Updated website

Ecotech Services administration

10 January 2014

We have now updated our website to the popular WordPress content management system. This will give us more flexibility and make adding new content a lot easier.

Ecotech Services has a company philosophy of supporting the open source software community and Alan Liefting, the company founder, has done a lot of volunteer work on the Wikimedia Foundation projects, including Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons. It was therefore a logical choice to use the open source WordPress software.

administration