The other major problem is the toxic nature of many of the substances, these include arsenic, bromine, cadmium, halogenated flame retardant, HCFCs, lead, mercury and PCBs. Finding suitable landfill sites is also becoming an increasing problem, particularly in the Southeast, where large quantities of electronic waste will be arising. Every year in the City of London alone, about 2,100 tonnes of IT equipment reaches the end of its working life. In addition to traditional second hand outlets, there are a number of schemes looking at ways of passing on electronic equipment no longer required by commercial organisations to other users. By this means, the life of products can be extended, which is environmentally more desirable than recycling them.
Some local authorities are able to accept equipment for passing on to local community groups.
There are commercial organisations which buy and sell business computer systems, sometimes as complete systems, or for refurbishment, or as spares for maintenance purposes. Bytes Twice provides information and advice to both community re-use projects and companies wishing to donate computers. The life span of electronic equipment can also be extended by upgrading a particular appliance, if the design allows. It is quite standard practice to fit larger hard disks to computers, or additional memory. Equally, incorporating a CD drive can extend the life of modular hi-fi systems.