How Do We Decrease the E-Waste Crisis?

By choosing refurbished over new, repairing equipment instead of replacing it, and making sure that any hardware that has reached the end of life is responsibly recycled, you are playing your part to reduce the amount of e-waste heading to landfill.

E-waste – The Fastest Growing Solid Waste Stream on the Planet

E-waste is a major environmental issue; in fact, it is the fastest growing solid waste stream on the planet. In 2022 only, humans generated 62 billion kg of e-waste. This is an enormous amount, but the real issue lies in the yearly growth. For context, in 2010 humans managed to output 34 billion kg of e-waste, and the number is only projected to grow larger and larger year on year.

Making Responsible Decisions with Your Existing Equipment

Fortunately, the e-waste crisis is something you can have a direct effect on by repairing equipment, selling equipment to a refurbished hardware specialist, and ensuring that it is responsibly recycled come the end of its life.

Repair

When IT equipment begins to slow down, overheat, and stop performing to the level that it once did, the easy option appears to be to throw it away and replace it with something new. However, taking the time to diagnose the issue and working to remedy it can be a cost-effective solution that keeps hardware in use for longer.

Repairing equipment has wider reaching benefits than just the person who gets to keep the device for longer. The repairs industry is growing, and as it grows it creates more jobs. This means that choosing to repair hardware can create more opportunities in the local area for people to learn and develop green skills that will prove vital in the coming years, as green skills become increasingly important. Increasing the demand for repair also encourages the growth of sustainable business practices.

Reselling Equipment

Technology refreshes don’t need to wait for existing equipment to become untenable. It is important that the surplus equipment is giving the opportunity to re-enter the market through resale. Choosing a refurbished specialist ensures that the hardware will be kept in use for longer and therefore diverts hardware from potentially ending up in landfill. Reselling equipment is also an excellent way to maximise an IT budget.

Responsible Recycling

Even when equipment is repaired, it will still eventually reach the end of its life, and this is arguably one of the most important points for any technology. Although all choices throughout the entire lifecycle of any technology is important, this can be seen as the ‘final’ chance for technology to end up in landfill. While repairs can help reduce the amount of hardware that needs to be created, responsible recycling directly stops it from ending up in landfill.

Equipment at the end of its lifecycle may not be able to serve its original purpose, but it is still a resource. Electronic equipment, especially IT hardware, contains valuable metals and other materials that can be extracted and reused when recycled correctly. This reduces the requirement to mine more resources and promotes responsible usage of valuable metals.

As well as recovering resources, it is also possible to recover parts through component harvesting. Just because the overall device is at end of life, it does not necessarily mean that every single part of the device falls into the same category. This is why our Resource Recovery team will harvest any hardware that comes their way for parts wherever possible.

Buying Refurbished IT Hardware

Refurbished technology extends the use phase of technology, allowing us to make the most of what we have rather than constantly looking to manufacturing processes.

The reality of refurbished IT hardware is that it can be up to 70% cheaper than new without any compromise on performance, reliability or efficiency. Refurbished technology provides an opportunity to take a positive step forward for the good of everyone without any compromise to yourself or to your business.

Understanding what refurbished technology is can also go a long way toward removing concerns around it.

Refurbished does not simply mean that a redundant device has been cleaned and put back on the shelf. It means that the equipment has had a previous life, but has then been put through testing, repair (where necessary) and an upgrading process to make sure that it is fit for purpose. This process is designed to ensure that any potential faults are addressed. Ideally, the only reason you should know that an item is not brand new is because of the savings you have made.

What About Existing E-Waste?

The strategies above aim to reduce the level of growth in global e-waste, but what is being done about the e-waste that already exists? We can do everything in our power to reduce the increasing amount of e-waste, however there is damage coming from the existing e-waste that needs to be addressed. Recent innovations in precious metals mean that metals can be removed from landfill and recycled for their precious metals more efficiently. Strategies such as landfill mining and chemical leaching can help recover certain precious metals, but the process is not able to extract ALL materials. It requires the sacrifice of other precious metals. Countries are beginning to invest in landfill mining projects in an effort to excavate e-waste and reobtain some value.

Techbuyer – Experts in Refurbished Hardware

Techbuyer has 20 years of experience in providing refurbished IT solutions, and our Resource Recovery team are at the technological forefront of e-waste recycling technologies through partnerships with numerous e-waste recyclers such as The Royal Mint.

You can learn more about our refurbished hardware here, or you can click here to visit our Resource Recovery page.