Disappointment with WEEE causes firm to restructure with increased turnover as a result

End-O-Line Services has changed its name to EOL IT Services after turning its back almost entirely on the recycling market.

The firm, which now draws 90 per cent of its turnover from IT services, installations and equipment relocation, has revamped its corporate image to reflect the change in its business model and market trends. It used to focus exclusively on recycling and data security.

Richard Parker, managing director of EOL IT Services, denied the change had led the firm to miss out on recycling opportunities around the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, which came into force on 1 July.

“A lot of companies thought that WEEE would be an excuse to print money, but EOL IT Services was not convinced. If our customers had been receptive to it then it would have been our strategy, but for

EOL the recycling interest lessened,” Parker said.

“Our name no longer represented the services this business provides. The firm is a whole different animal to when it started and our turnover increased by 40 per cent due to the new structure,” he added.

However, EOL’s decision to shun WEEE received a mixed reaction from other channel players.

Alistair Bell, managing director of Bell Microsystems, which recently applied to become an authorised treatment facility (ATF), said: “Bell Microsystems has incorporated recycling in line with current legislation. There is a market for businesses looking to get into it.”

Lee Bevon, managing director of education reseller Leapfrog Computers, said: “The WEEE initiative is a good idea, but the government is not doing enough to promote it, therefore, the market may not seem big. Every school Leapfrog goes to has a dump corner of old equipment and we encourage schools to sell it on.”