The channel needs to invest in sustainable IT as its waste levels grow far too high, according to an industry body which provides certification for sustainable IT products.
TCO Certified said that the IT industry wastes over 50 million metric tons a year globally – a significant proportion of which is valuable and still usable.
The body wants the industry to take advantage of the services provided by organisations that can refurbish products and components, and called on it to shift its mentality to one that makes recycling and reusing products the norm.
Andreas Rehn of TCO Certified said: “We can all inspire each other to reuse more and make sure that products have a second life instead of collecting dust in a drawer.”
The results of a study commissioned by Cranfield University, commissioned by British remanufacturer Circular Computing, found that remanufactured laptops have 97 percent of the functionality and performance of new devices.
This statistic, Circular says, should challenge the preconception that new products are guaranteed to perform better than second-hand products.
Rod Neale, the founder of Circular Computing, said that some of the world’s largest companies are already turning to sustainable devices, both to deliver value and help reduce the damage caused to the environment by IT waste disposal.
“CIOs are looking for new ways to deliver value and are turning to IT sustainability to serve business strategy and the environment, and we’ve proved that we now have a previously unimaginable solution.”
Atos has expanded its decarbonisation portfolio to offer clients what it is billing as the “world’s first” certified carbon neutral laptops.
