Multi-site clearance and disposal for a telecoms operator

Following an internal estate review, a telecoms operator needed to clear redundant IT and network equipment from a number of regional sites in a tight window, without disrupting live services and with a full audit trail for compliance.

The estate had grown over many years through acquisitions, refreshes and partial decommissions, leaving a mix of legacy network kit, office IT and stored equipment spread across several regional locations. A lot of it was no longer in active use, but each site still had to be treated as live, with strict rules around what could be touched and when.

On top of the operational complexity, the client had clear obligations around data protection and environmental compliance. Any device that had ever held customer or operational data needed to be sanitised or destroyed to a recognised standard, with documentation that would stand up to internal audit and external scrutiny.

They also wanted to keep this as a single project, not a series of disconnected jobs. That meant one partner managing surveys, collections, data destruction, recycling and reporting end to end, so their internal team did not have to stitch together evidence from multiple suppliers.

We started with a structured site survey, working with the client's regional contacts to understand what was on each site, where it was located and what access constraints applied. From that we built a phased collection schedule designed to fit around their operational windows rather than disrupt them.

On the day, each site was handled by experienced, DBS-checked crews using sealed, GPS-tracked vehicles. Assets were captured at point of collection, with serial-level detail for anything data-bearing, and everything was reconciled against the survey before vehicles left the premises.

Behind the scenes, our facility processed each load through the same workflow: secure intake, data wiping or physical destruction depending on the asset, then triage between refurbishment, component recovery and WEEE-compliant recycling. The client received progress updates throughout, rather than waiting until the end for a single report.

All sites cleared on schedule with zero impact on live services. The client received a single, reconciled report covering chain of custody, data destruction certificates and recycling outcomes.

Operationally, the programme ran without any disruption to live customer services. Sites were cleared on schedule, vehicles tracked from collection through to our facility, and there were no exceptions on the chain of custody.

From a compliance perspective, the client ended up with a single, joined-up evidence pack rather than a folder of separate notes from different suppliers. Data destruction certificates were issued at serial level for everything that needed them, and recycling outcomes were documented per site.

Just as importantly, the project gave them a repeatable template. Future clearances can now follow the same playbook, which makes planning easier and gives their compliance team confidence that nothing will be missed next time around.

Projects like this tend to look simpler than they are. The real work is in the coordination: aligning surveys, access, transport, data destruction and reporting so that the client only ever has to deal with one team and one set of paperwork.

Getting that right also unlocks value. Once everything is captured cleanly, it becomes much easier to identify equipment suitable for refurbishment and resale, which feeds back into the client's sustainability and cost story.