Enterprise tech is a major contributor to the e-waste problem, and IT leaders are key to addressing it.
The number of devices slated for enterprise use is, in part, what's driving the growing amount of e-waste. Another contributing factor is the frequency with which organizations are replacing devices. Every time a company throws out IT hardware, metals, plastics, glass and hazardous materials end up in the environment, not to mention the resulting emissions from greenhouse gases.
But when organizations adopt a strategy of sustainable device management, in combination with sound disposal practices, company leaders can reduce the company's e-waste and, by extension, the organization's carbon footprint.
How to decrease e-waste volume
Leaders can use these strategies to address the increasing issue of e-waste.
Review equipment refresh cycles
To reduce e-waste, IT leaders need to evaluate how often their organizations replace employees' devices.
As part of this process, leaders might examine and adjust "device-to-person" ratios, according to the McKinsey report. For example, if there is one printer per eight people, it might be feasible to assign a single printer to a group of 16 employees.
The same McKinsey report also mentions that tech buyers should also vet manufacturers and suppliers on their sustainable practices regarding circular component design, designing for longer lifespans, and recycling, refurbishing and repairing.
Work with circular-minded suppliers
Using easily disassembled and reassembled IT equipment can make for more sustainable IT hardware asset management.
With this in mind, organizations should engage with suppliers that offer modular systems with easy-to-swap components, according to "How IT Asset Management can contribute towards sustainability," published in 2021 by the ISO ITAM Standards Committee, headquartered in Geneva.
IT and business leaders should also consider selecting products designed to be taken apart and put back together again, according to the ISO ITAM report. For example, assembling items with screws rather than glue.
In addition, selecting systems that can take advantage of openly available firmware updates, rendering the device easy to upgrade for reuse can help to reduce e-waste, according to the same ISO ITAM report.
Consider third-party ITAD providers
Using third-party IT asset disposition (ITAD) providers can help facilitate the circular economy approach because these companies are manufacturer-agnostic, according to the ISO ITAM report. ITAD providers can accept a mixed bag of IT equipment such as laptops, PCs, printers and servers.
Organizations might also opt to work with refurbished hardware suppliers to buy spare parts in bulk, enabling them to oversee refurbishment, repair and reuse in-house, according to the same ISO ITAM report.
Find new uses for IT equipment
Companies have several choices when it comes to dealing with old IT equipment. Sometimes, it can be as simple as reimaging a computer used by a former employee and assigning it to a new recruit.
IT leaders might also consider reselling usable used equipment, according to the ISO ITAM report. Not only is this decision greener than sending the equipment to a landfill, it's also a way of offsetting the costs associated with new tech purchases.
Organizations can also donate reusable equipment to charities or schools, which might also be eligible for a tax deduction.
Another option is to set up a program where employees can purchase used IT equipment, according to the ISO ITAM report. This opportunity offsets tech costs for the organization, and staff might see this as a benefit.
There's also the opportunity to break down equipment and remove individual components for use in other hardware systems, according to the ISO ITAM report.
Recycling is another option, albeit the least sustainable one of the reduce-reuse-recycle triad, according to the same ISO ITAM report.
Recycling tech offers means smelting to recover rare earth minerals, but this yields its own toxic or dangerous by-products.
However, recycling is still better for the environment than sending equipment to the landfills. Moreover, methods that focus on circular economy principles can help support sustainability.
Why addressing e-waste is so important
E-waste is a mounting problem, and its reduction is a critical need for future generations, especially as digital tech use becomes even more common and integral to business and personal life. Here's a look at some of the issues.
Recovery of precious metals
When IT equipment is incinerated, improperly processed at the end of its life or ends up in landfills, the precious metals it contains are inaccessible. Not only is this a waste of limited-supply raw materials, there is also a negative economic effect.
Global e-waste in 2022 contained around $91 billion of metals, according to "The Global E-waste Monitor 2024," a report jointly published by the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), International Telecommunication Union and Foundation Carmignac. This includes $28 billion of secondary raw materials such as copper, gold and iron.
Recycling processes incorporating today's e-waste management technology could improve the extraction rates for these raw materials, UNITAR and its collaborators say.
Good practices protect the planet
When done properly, e-waste management can decrease further damage to the environment. For example, urban mining is the process of recovering resources from waste rather than the Earth itself.
Of the 62 billion kilograms of e-waste produced by 2022, only 22.3% was collected and recycled in accordance with accepted guidelines.
Urban mining has fewer negative effects than traditional, or primary, mining, according to the UNITAR report.
The downsides of traditional mining include the following:
Air and water pollution.
Land damage.
Biodiversity loss.
Health issues such as respiratory conditions.
Traditional mining also requires the large-scale extraction of rock to yield a worthwhile result, according to the UNITAR report. For example, 3 million kilograms of mined rock yields just 1 kilogram of gold.
Urban mining reduces the need for traditional mining methods, according to the UNITAR report.
E-waste is accumulating at a breakneck pace
The global reliance on the internet and the number of connected devices that exist are producing an increasing amount of e-waste.
Current e-waste collection and recycling practices are not keeping up, according to the UNITAR report.
Of the 62 billion kilograms of e-waste produced by 2022, only 22.3% was collected and recycled in accordance with accepted guidelines, the UNITAR report notes. Only 34 billion kilograms of e-waste was accounted for in 2010, and that number has been increasing by 2.3 billion kilograms every year since.
Furthermore, only 8 billion kilograms of e-waste were processed using formal collection and recycling techniques in 2010. And this rate is increasing by only 0.5 billion kilograms annually, according to the UNITAR report.
One of the reasons that e-waste generation is growing faster than accepted collection and recycling processes is that the resources dedicated to these processes vary by country or region.
However, addressing e-waste is not a lost cause.
"There is room for optimism if action is undertaken by all countries to set up e-waste management infrastructure and regulate the management of e-waste," according to the UNITAR report.
Carolyn Heinze is a Paris-based freelance writer. She covers several technology and business areas, including HR software and sustainability.
