Fighting for a Sustainable Future: Taking Inspired Action

Techbuyer’s Sustainability Lead, Astrid Wynne Becomes a Chartered Environmentalist

The Technology industry is making headway in reducing the impact that IT hardware, processes and practices have on our environment. A universal change in the buying and disposal of technology, as well as our IT maintenance habits, is essential for the creation of a circular IT economy, as well as the establishment of a more sustainable IT sector in general.

Businesses around the world, including large data centres and IT manufacturers, are looking for ways to become more sustainable with their technology. As pressure grows to bring change, individuals and organisations that are prepared to act will be essential to the acceleration of new sustainable practices.

Techbuyer’s Sustainability Lead, Astrid Wynne is one such individual. After recently passing a rigorous assessment and gaining years of invaluable experience she has been named as a Chartered Environmentalist (CEnv). As one of only 7,500 in the world and just a handful in the technology sector, this is an incredible achievement, illustrating Astrid's determination to see a more sustainable IT industry in the future.

At Techbuyer, we believe that every individual and organisation can take inspired action. To create the change, we want to see. Techbuyer, as a provider of sustainable IT solutions, is continuously striving to improve the environmentally friendly services we offer to our clients globally. Whilst working to improve the sustainability practices of our own organisation and facilities around the world.

What is a Chartered Environmentalist?

After acquiring the necessary experience and skills, Astrid has proven her capabilities across 13 core areas of sustainability, including technical knowledge and skills in sustainable leadership. As a chartered environmentalist, Astrid is now officially recognised for her knowledge, dedication and expertise.

The Society of the Environment (SocEnv), the organisation behind the Chartered Environmentalist accreditation, defines this position as:

“For environmental professionals independent of discipline, Chartership reflects a high level of skill and experience, setting Chartered Environmentalists apart from others working in their field.”

Being awarded chartership is not dependent upon your industry of work but on what you do in terms of sustainability within your sector.

Techbuyer’s Sustainability and Research Director, Rich Kenny states that, “Astrid is a rare individual who can understand incredibly complicated problems and apply creative solutions. She has utilised that talent in the environmental technology arena where she has become an expert in communicating technology’s impact on our planet. In a difficult and nuanced area of environmental management she is helping to drive behavioural change.”

What does this mean for our Business?

With a Chartered Environmentalist, as part of the Techbuyer team, we will advance the education of businesses, schools and organisations on improving the sustainability of technology and how to be more eco-friendly with IT equipment. We will also advance our own efforts to further reduce the ecological impact that we and our clients have on the planet through the ongoing addition of new environmentally friendly services.

Learn more about the CEnv accreditation and what it means on the Society of the Environment’s webpage.

Sustainability Within the Techbuyer Team

Sustainability is at the core of everything we do at Techbuyer, it is an essential part of our business model and the features we provide. We offer a wide range of products, services and tools to enable businesses globally to make more sustainable choices with their IT habits. None of this would be possible without the fantastic Techbuyer team, who have a drive and passion for sustainability.

We established a volunteer sustainability committee to help drive forward our company’s effort to be more environmentally friendly. This committee has not only proven exceptionally popular, but the hard work and dedication of the members have helped our business work for a more sustainable future internally.

The Techbuyer team are our strongest assets in terms of spreading the word about sustainable IT and making meaningful changes and contributions for a more eco-friendly future for the technology industry.

In 2019 Techbuyer signed up to support and aid the UN Global Goals, or Sustainable Development Goals. This initiative enables our business to make valued contributions towards a set of universally agreed upon causes for a sustainable future. We set targets against three of the seventeen goals: Responsible Consumption and Production, Quality Education and Good Health and Wellbeing.

Since establishing our business’s unique targets, the Techbuyer team has been working to advance our progress in these areas to aid the sustainable development of our planet. Amongst the work done, we sponsored and attended the Harrogate Climate Action Festival to support environmental developments in our local community, we launched the SpiceWorld 2021 virtual event to spread messaging around sustainable technology and we have diverted hundreds of thousands of tonnes of e-waste from landfill to name but a few!

Our Research Team is also making incredible headway into understanding the efficiency of servers to explore how we can reduce the energy consumption and carbon footprint of data centres globally.

Each team within Techbuyer plays a unique role in the sustainability chain that holds our business together. Their work and dedication allow our company to spread the message for sustainable technology and aid the creation of a circular IT economy.