How Sustainable Technology Is a Cost-Effective Solution for a Circular Economy
If you’re anything like me, you probably have a designated “junk drawer” in your home. Mine primarily consists of assorted electronics that have long outgrown their use: three old cell phones I haven’t touched in years, my old iPod nano coated in a thick layer of dust and a clump of random chargers that’s anyone’s guess which devices they belong to.
Now multiply your junk drawer times 1,000. One filled with laptops, printers and other hardware no longer in use. This is the quandary facing IT leaders. They need to equip teams with high-performing, modern devices, yet must reckon with the physical and financial waste of outdated tech.
Electronic waste, or e-waste, is one of the most pressing issues facing our planet. Defined as discarded electronic devices and equipment with no intention of being reused, e-waste is primarily devices that are old, unwanted or have reached end-of-life. About 50 million tons of e-waste are generated globally each year — the equivalent of throwing out 1,000 laptops every second.
Based on current trends, the global population is set to generate 67 million tons of e-waste by 2023, nearly doubling the output from 2014. And if that statistic isn’t startling enough: Only an estimated 17.4% of e-waste is properly collected and recycled.
A major contributor to the growing e-waste problem is the linear economy, also known as the “take-make-waste” economy. In this traditional model, raw materials are extracted and transformed into products for consumers. After they reach the end of their useful life, they are disposed of.
In other words, products are made, used and thrown away.
The opposite is true of a circular economy. By contrast, a cyclical model aims to share, reuse, repair and recycle existing products. This keeps already-available resources in use for as long as possible. This ultimately saves natural resources and reduces energy consumption and waste.
In a circular economy, products are designed to be reused, repaired and recycled as much as possible. This helps to reduce waste and conserve resources.
Every innovation impacts a physical debt on the environment. The solution lies in creating a circular economy in which resources are kept in use as long as possible to extract the most value before recovery and regeneration.
Implementing a sustainable IT strategy will minimise your organisation’s environmental footprint. It will also unlock new potential for asset value, extend product lifecycles and earn goodwill from customers and communities alike. The goodwill factor is crucial as more attention is paid to the ethical decision-making of companies everywhere.
Just like people, businesses need help cleaning out their junk drawers. There are three primary ways to improve your hardware sustainability efforts: choose devices with sustainability built in, refresh or reuse what you can, and recycle what you can’t.
Making eco-friendly hardware choices comes down to how sustainably your devices are made, from the materials to the operation.
For example, energy-efficient devices save electricity, which lowers greenhouse gas emissions and decreases the harmful impact on the environment. A computer might be considered more energy efficient if it has enhanced power management, such as entering sleep mode automatically when idle.
You can identify energy-efficient devices by verifying they're Energy Rating Certified. The Equipment Energy Efficiency (E3) Program is an initiative of the Australian Government, states and territories and the New Zealand Government to improve the energy efficiency of appliances and equipment.
To be ENERGY RATING certified, both computers and monitors must meet mandatory energy efficiency requirements. Top device brands — such as Apple, Dell Technologies, HP, Lenovo and Microsoft — all sell certified energy-efficient devices.
You’ll also want to consider the materials that make up your devices. Some electronics contain hazardous substances that release toxic chemicals into the atmosphere when burned during production and disposal.
These substances, such as flame retardants, lead and mercury, aren’t only harmful for the planet, but they also pose threats to human health if leaked into soil and groundwater.
Many electronics are also made with high-impact materials such as metals or other finite elements. These are difficult to source and require high amounts of energy to manufacture — resulting in increased greenhouse gas emissions, which have an overall higher impact on the environment.
Shopping for devices made with recycled metals and bioplastics, which are made from renewable resources, is a sustainable swap. You can also check to see whether devices are TCO Certified, which verifies that they have been assessed for environmentally-responsibly manufacturing and reduction of hazardous materials, among other categories.
On a “moonshot goal” to be a net zero company by 2030, Dell has figured out ways to incorporate sustainable materials in its equipment components and packaging.
Even if you choose the most sustainable devices available, you’ll eventually need to determine how you’ll dispose of them. Keeping your devices out of a landfill requires you to either remarket or recycle your assets.
While smaller companies with less technology can handle disposal on their own, many organisations work with an IT Asset Disposition (ITAD) partner for expert guidance.
An ITAD partner comprehensively reviews your hardware to determine the best route for your end-of-life assets — whether it be remarketing, redeployment or disposition.
With the help of an ITAD partner, you can maximise your return on equipment and protect your sensitive data while simplifying logistics and transportation.
If you choose to remarket your devices, an ITAD partner will assess the overall resale potential based on factors such as age and condition.
Once determined, they’ll properly wipe all information from the device, so it can’t be tracked back to your organisation, and your confidential data stays protected.
Next, the ITAD partner will resell your hardware to its network of buyers on your behalf — helping you get the highest rate of return. For this financial benefit, many organisations may opt to remarket their equipment rather than recycle it.
If your devices aren’t in good condition or are too outdated to resell, an ITAD partner can also responsibly recycle your assets to ensure EPA compliance. The partner will assess which components of your equipment are recyclable and properly dispose of any that are not.
“Most technology can be recycled,” says Lisa Czarnecki, an IT lifecycle specialist at Insight. “Particularly entire computers, including the glass in the monitor, the plastic in the case, the copper in the power supply and the precious metals used in the circuitry.”
She continues, “If an asset has no value, or it’s at the end of the IT lifecycle, it’s completely disassembled into salvageable plastic, glass and metal components. We then send it downstream to reputable recycling vendors and refineries. Clients are given a certificate of recycling.”
Most technology can be recycled. If an asset has no value, or it’s at the end of the IT lifecycle, it’s completely disassembled into salvageable plastic, glass and metal components.
Organisations across the globe are realising the benefits of sustainable business practices — and changing more than their asset lifecycle practices in response.
Microsoft committed to be carbon negative, water positive and zero waste by 2030, and to permanently protect more land than it uses by 2025. It also invested $1 billion into the Climate Innovation Fund, an initiative to accelerate technology development and deployment of new climate innovations through equity and debt capital.
We’re on our own ambitious journey at Insight, too. In 2023, we’re working to establish a formal circular economy partner program.
This will deliver sustainable solutions for our clients, uniting the best capabilities from our partners. With the combined expertise of our partners’ deep competencies, we can bring world-class solutions that help our clients progress on their own sustainability strategy.
Our 2022 highlights include:
Plus, we opened our new headquarters on Insight Way in Chandler, Arizona — underscoring our commitment to environmental responsibility through intelligent solutions for energy efficiency and sustainability.
There’s no doubt that e-waste is a serious problem. But we also can’t forget about technology’s unique potential to do good.
IT innovations have created new and encouraging methods to preserve natural resources, generate renewable energy and protect wildlife, to name a few.
At Insight, we’ve leveraged our deep technical resources and expert team to help our clients reach their sustainability goals, including:
Reducing infrastructure and carbon footprints by using cloud services
Improving energy efficiency and resource stewardship through modern data centr platforms
Optimising water, fuel and power consumption through support for smart city infrastructure
Creating carbon savings by empowering remote workplaces and virtual professional events
Protecting the environment with leading-class asset disposition for device reuse and recycling
Transitioning to a circular economy is a necessary part of solving the climate crisis. Technology stands out as a key puzzle piece to solve it.
Reduce your e-waste.Insight will help you responsibly remarket and recycle your IT assets.
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As an Insight web content strategist and writer, Lauren communicates Insight’s capabilities as the leading Solution Integrator to insight.com users through engaging and informative content on the industry’s most cutting-edge technology.
