Almost three quarters (73 per cent) of UK IT professionals are still unaware of the requirements of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) directive, according to data recovery specialist Kroll Ontrack.

Which is strange for any number of reasons; I'll give you a couple. First, the initiative was implemented over a year ago - and the build-up to the launch took forever. Computing writers wrote hundreds - well, tens - of 'What is the WEEE directive?' box-outs alongside analysis and feature stories. In fact, the continual need for WEEE box-outs became a bit of an in-house, editorial joke (yes, folks - we are literally that funny at Computing).

Second, how can IT professionals have avoided the WEEE directive? Despite its ridiculous acronym, WEEE has good intentions and tough requirements - requirements that have helped drive much of the current debate on green computing and the need to reduce carbon emissions in the IT department.

But don't be surprised if your colleagues have learnt to ignore the obvious. I now accept that quite a lot of people are stupid, if you will excuse the sweeping generalisation. Take, for example, the following comment I overheard on the way back to the Tube last night: "Have you noticed that nobody ever smiles on the Underground?"

What, really? I felt like shouting: "You know, you might well be the first person to ever notice that," before issuing a massive, ironic wink. Which would, of course, have made me look odd. But not as weird as if I'd got on the Underground and starting smiling at complete strangers.

You see, there's a reason people don't smile inanely at people they don't know - and that's because it makes them look like some kind of mentalist. Some kind of mentalist? That sounds like a really bad spoof of a 1980s Brat Pack film. And that really does have nothing to do with the WEEE directive.

Further reading

• Computer Aid shows how to beat the green wash
• Cure for green computing overkill is the real deal
• Green computing hype needs smarter approach
• Green computing is not crucial for CIOs
• JP Rangaswami says green computing drives BT

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