Lenovo has launched a new service aimed at making better green practices more appealing to businesses in Europe.

The company's new Asset Recovery Service will give organisations signing up to the plan a way to get rid of their old technology in an environmentally friendly and convenient way.

The service offers computer take-back, data destruction, refurbishment and recycling, as well as a cash-back provision to help offset the cost of the service.

Lenovo estimates that after the standard three-year refresh cycle, the average customer can receive 10 to 15 per cent of the value back of what the computers cost them originally.

"We are finding that more and more of our customers are concerned about what to do with old electronics and have specific requirements for equipment take-back and disposal when purchasing new PCs," said Feargal MacConuladh, vice president of services at Lenovo.

"The Lenovo Asset Recovery Service is one more step in our commitment to not only providing services that meet our customers' needs, but also for being good stewards of our environment."

As well as conforming to the European WEEE directives, the initiative fits in with Lenovo's overall plan to improve the energy efficiency, lifespan and upgradeability of its products, MacConuladh said.

The company will first try to refurbish and reuse the systems it collects, but failing that it will turn to recycling.

Lenovo introduced a similar service in the US and Canada back in June and expects that adding this service to its existing take-back programmes in this part of the world will help grow customer returns by more than 30 per cent.

As well as getting rid of old IT equipment, Lenovo offers additional services including inventory, value assessment, on-site de-installation and data encryption.