E-waste basics: How to recycle IT equipment and reduce your impact
Learn how to recycle e-waste responsibly with our short guide, including tips on safe disposal, sustainable shopping and how to protect the planet from e-waste. Much of the debate around sustainability and the IT industry today focuses on reducing the carbon emissions that come from powering IT equipment. But there’s another big sustainability challenge that […]
Learn how to recycle e-waste responsibly with our short guide, including tips on safe disposal, sustainable shopping and how to protect the planet from e-waste.
Much of the debate around sustainability and the IT industry today focuses on reducing the carbon emissions that come from powering IT equipment. But there’s another big sustainability challenge that IT departments around the world should address: e-waste. In many ways, e-waste is as bad as carbon when it comes to environmental damage. In addition, e-waste can also have a negative impact on health and quality of life in developing countries, and failure to properly manage it can lead to governance and compliance issues.
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For all these reasons, developing a plan to address the e-waste problem should be a priority for any organization that owns IT equipment, since almost all of that equipment will eventually become e-waste. This guide explores everything IT organizations need to know about managing e-waste, including where it comes from, why it’s harmful, and how to address e-waste challenges through effective electronics recycling and disposal.
Navigating the World of E-Waste
The Lifecycle of Our Electronics
Understanding E-Waste and Its Impact on the Planet
The Dangers of Improper Disposal
Simple Steps to Responsible Recycling
Reduce E-Waste Through Smart Decisions
Legislation and Corporate Responsibility
Using Technology to Tackle E-Waste
FAQs – Answers to All Your E-Waste Questions
Navigating the World of E-Waste
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E-waste, short for electronic waste, refers to electronic devices that are no longer in use, especially those that contain harmful substances. For example, any of the following products can become e-waste once a company stops using them:
Servers
Computers
Cellular phones
Disk drives
Computer peripherals (such as keyboards and mice)
Monitors and other display devices
The life cycle of our electronic devices
To understand where e-waste comes from, let’s look at the life cycle that electronic devices typically follow.
Most devices go through the following stages:
Acquisition: This is when an organization first introduces a new device. Installation: New devices are installed and are then ready for use.
Use: Once installed, users use the devices continuously. Upgrade: In some cases (but not all), devices are upgraded throughout their lifecycle. For example, an IT department might add more memory to a PC as a form of upgrade. Decline: The decline of an electronic device occurs because physical components (such as hard drives) begin to wear out or because the capabilities of a device no longer meet modern demands. For example, a server may no longer have enough memory to handle the workloads hosted on it. Phase Out: Organizations phase out declining devices and replace them with newer alternatives.
Disposal: Once devices are disposed of, they are discarded. These stages of the electronics life cycle are inevitable. While the longevity of a product can vary based on many factors, such as how it is used and maintained, almost no electronic device lasts forever. In fact, most computing devices in use today have a useful life of only five to ten years before they reach the decline stage and become candidates for phase-out.
Understanding e-waste and its impact on the planet
Since the disposal of electronic devices is inevitable, so is e-waste. However, not all e-waste is disposed of properly, and when it is not disposed of, it negatively impacts the planet in several ways:
Leakage of harmful substances: Electronic devices can contain chemicals such as lead, mercury and chromium, which are harmful to plants, animals and people. These substances can spread into the environment when devices are disposed of outdoors without measures being taken to remove or contain them. Polluting landfills: Discarded devices can clutter up landfills, and because many of the components within devices, such as plastic, take centuries to decompose, e-waste can pile up indefinitely. This problem is especially acute in developing countries, which tend to host e-waste landfills. Air and Water Pollution: In addition to creating an eyesore and releasing chemicals into the disposal area, devices can contaminate the air or water if they are burned or enter waterways. This means that the environmental damage caused by e-waste is not localized; it can affect people, plants, and animals hundreds of miles from e-waste landfills.
The Dangers of Improper Disposal
From both a health and environmental perspective, e-waste can have profoundly negative consequences.
Health Risks Associated with E-Waste
The most serious health effect of e-waste is neurological problems, which can arise from the lead and mercury contained in discarded devices. The impact is especially severe on children.
In addition, some of the toxins in e-waste can cause cancer. For example, chromium can be carcinogenic if inhaled.
Environmental Consequences of Unregulated Discharges
In addition to harming humans, e-waste can harm the environment in many ways. For animals, e-waste can cause health problems such as mercury poisoning, a particularly serious threat to marine life. (This type of poisoning can also indirectly harm humans, if they consume animals poisoned with mercury from e-waste.) Evidence also shows that the accumulation of e-waste leads to a decline in bird populations. In plants, e-waste can reduce growth and damage cell structures, contributing to deforestation. It can also harm animals that depend on healthy plants for food and shelter. In addition to these environmental challenges, e-waste can reduce air and water quality, making natural environments inhospitable to people, plants and animals.
Simple Steps to Responsible Recycling
To avoid contributing to problems like the ones described above, IT organizations must take steps to effectively dispose of unused products. The best way to do this is to recycle. Recycling e-waste allows devices that still work to be reused, or if the entire device is no longer working, the components of the device (such as hard drives or USB sticks) that still work can be removed and reused. Recycling also helps ensure that devices are not illegally dumped in a place where they could harm the environment. How to sort electronics for recycling
To recycle electronics effectively, it is important to sort them, as different products often need to be recycled in different ways.
Specific recycling requirements for products that might otherwise become e-waste vary depending on the type of product and where it is recycled. That said, general guidelines include:
Organize your devices by type. For example, put monitors you want to recycle in one box and computers in another. Disconnect all cables and place them in their box.
When possible, disassemble the devices, for example separating the plastic from the metal. If you know that a device contains particularly harmful substances, label it accordingly and make sure to separate it from general electronic waste.
Remember to remove any sensitive information from storage devices before sending them for recycling. How to Find Your Nearest E-Waste Recycling Center
Finding centers that accept e-waste for recycling or disposal can be a challenge, as there is no global database of eligible centers. However, with a little effort, you can probably find a provider that can help you properly dispose of your equipment. Start by contacting your local council and asking about e-waste management services. Some cities and towns offer e-waste management as part of their standard waste collection and recycling services. If yours doesn’t have one, they may be able to direct you to an organization that does.
If your local government isn’t helpful, some states, like New York, also maintain databases of e-waste disposal and recycling facilities. Finally, some private companies accept computer equipment, which they then resell or throw away. These services are generally less flexible because they only accept certain types of equipment (such as that used in data centers), but they can also be more efficient if a large number of PCs or servers are being scrapped. Reduce e-waste through smart decisions
In addition to taking steps to properly dispose of e-waste, companies should also work to reduce the amount of e-waste generated through sustainable purchasing and lifecycle management.
Make sustainable purchasing decisions
When purchasing computer equipment, consider the expected longevity and maintenance requirements of the devices. Do the vendors guarantee that the devices will work for a certain period of time? If so, you may be able to get more use out of them and, by extension, reduce the frequency with which you turn the devices into e-waste. Also consider how easy it is to maintain or upgrade a device. If a component fails (say, a smartphone battery dies), can your IT department fix it, or will the entire device become e-waste? How to Extend the Life of Your Electronics
You can work to extend the life of your electronics by maintaining them properly. This includes measures such as checking for damaged components periodically and replacing them when necessary. For example, SMART functions can help you assess the health of your hard drive.
Upgrading products instead of replacing them is another way to reduce e-waste. Before you consider a computer or server obsolete, consider whether you could add more memory and continue using it.
Finally, avoid the practice of replacing computer equipment based on arbitrary deadlines. For example, instead of deciding to replace all your servers every five years, determine whether this is an appropriate policy based on the actual expected lifespan and usability of your servers. Premature disposal not only wastes money, but also creates avoidable e-waste. Legislation and Corporate Responsibility
Properly managing e-waste is not only the right thing to do from an environmental perspective, but in many places it is also a legal requirement. Understanding e-waste regulations
In the United States, 25 states currently regulate the recycling of electronic components. The European Union also has regulations that require the proper management of e-waste. Specific requirements vary, but in general the regulations require organizations to take reasonable steps to ensure that discarded electronics do not end up polluting the environment in avoidable ways.
How Companies Are Tackling the E-Waste Challenge
Today, companies are responding to e-waste regulations by making e-waste management a formal process, rather than something done on an ad hoc basis, which is the approach traditionally taken by many organizations.
Today, e-waste management can be part of an organization’s governance, risk and compliance (GRC) strategy, as it has important implications for compliance with regulatory standards, not to mention ESG priorities. Leveraging Technology to Address E-Waste
Technology can make e-waste management more effective and efficient.
Innovations in E-Waste Management and Recycling
For example, companies can leverage AI systems and robots to help sort products for e-waste recycling, with AI classifying components and robots performing physical sorting. These solutions may not be useful for small-scale e-waste management, but a company that disposes of thousands of devices each year could benefit from technological advances to speed up e-waste recycling and reduce the burden it places on employees’ time.
Digital tools to help you recycle more effectively
In addition to cutting-edge technology like artificial intelligence, e-waste management initiatives can benefit from simpler digital tools that help efficiently track electronic devices. For example, IT asset management (ITAM) software can help companies inventory the devices they own and track how long they’ve been in use. This allows them to make smart decisions about when and how to recycle devices. For example, because recycling is often more efficient if a large number of devices of the same type are recycled at the same time, ITAM software can help you decide when a critical mass of devices are approaching their expected end-of-life date and should be recycled.
Digital tools can also track where devices end up once they’re discarded. This can be important to demonstrate to regulators that you are managing your e-waste responsibly.
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