Technology Recycling vs. Reuse

Sustainability.

dorota@primenetuk.com 16 December 2021

Advance environmental sustainability and protect your data.

With e-waste continuing to be an issue worldwide, and global data consumption accelerating, what is the most sustainable option when it comes time to retire data storage devices?

The amount of data we process around the globe is staggering, and each virtual bit requires physical resources: chips, drives, smart devices, laptops, servers, and more.

Even before the COVID-sparked acceleration to cloud, ComputerWorld predicted that data centres could generate 3.2 percent of the total worldwide carbon emissions by 2025 and use at least a fifth of the world’s electricity.
By 2030, we could experience a deluge of Internet of Things (IoT) devices—around 50 billion of them. This IoT increase affects data processing, data storage, device manufacturing, and device and battery disposal.
In 2020, pandemic-sparked changes resulted in accelerated creation and acquisition of devices to facilitate remote work, virtual classrooms and digital business worldwide.
Devices are shrinking in size while expanding in storage capacity. Yet, Global E-Waste Monitor 2020 reports that as of 2020, global e-waste is up 21 percent in five years.