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In one of the first council-backed schemes of its kind in the UK, Secure IT will collect the unwanted equipment from the business premises and recycle it to reduce its environmental impact.

Crucially from a business point of view, any sensitive data remaining on hard drives will be entirely destroyed to Government and MOD standards: all the drives are completely shredded, rendering them useless to any thief or potential hacker.

The company is offering businesses two levels of service with charges starting from an initial £5.00 per item (£4.00 for educational establishments).

"It's a small price for the removal of an increasing burden on businesses and the sure knowledge that all sensitive commercial data is completely destroyed," said Secure IT's Managing Director Martin Burke.

"As a Birmingham company ourselves, we're delighted the council has chosen to work with Secure IT to enhance its environmental service and help reduce landfill."

Any equipment which can be re-used will be sold on (minus the original data) to provide a revenue return of 60%, which can either directly returned to the customer or donated to Secure IT's charity fund.

"This is an important project and reinforces our commitment to promoting sustainability as well as the uptake of digital technologies," commented Birmingham City Council deputy leader Paul Tilsley, who heads up the Digital Birmingham partnership.

"Recent statistics show over 6 million items of electronic equipment are thrown away annually in the UK, with only 20% of them recycled. Our partnership with Secure IT will help Birmingham businesses reduce this mountain of IT waste which would otherwise go to landfill, and benefit local charities and community groups along the way."

The initiative is being launched as part of the Birmingham Climate Change Festival (May 31st - June 8th) with a donation station in Centenary Square for businesses and residents. Anyone bringing in their IT equipment for recycling will be able to watch their hard drives being shredded before their eyes and the remains returned to them in a special box.

In addition to the business offer, the Council, Digital Birmingham and Secure IT are also offering a doorstep IT collection for the city's residents.

For more information, visit www.digitalbirmingham.co.uk/recycling. To arrange a collection, call Secure IT direct in 0870 727 1578 or email collections@sitd.co.uk.