Designing out e‑waste: Building circular digital services

Amid rapidly increasing tech turnover, e-waste is a growing problem across the globe. Primarily, this is because it is also one of the fastest growing waste streams. E-waste pollutes the land with hazardous substances and releases toxic fumes when burned, harming ecosystems and posing a risk to human health. It is also a waste of critical raw materials – particularly important in a time marked by geopolitical tensions and trade wars.

According UNITAR’s latest Global E-Waste Monitor, there was a record 62 billion kg of e-waste generated globally in 2022. Europe is responsible for just 21 percent of global e-waste and European recycling is at 43 percent, which is almost double the global rate of 22 percent. While that sounds positive, the problem is that the amount of e-waste is currently outpacing the rate of recycling by a factor of 27 in Europe, where e-waste levels increased by eight percent, whilst recycling rate grew by only 0.3 percent.

The picture is worse in the UK which makes up 13 percent of European e-waste. In fact, the UK has the second highest e-waste per capita in the world at 24kg, behind Norway at 27kg.

Best practices suggest following the waste hierarchy, a prioritised framework for managing waste, ranking options from most to least environmentally preferable. In this blog, I am to outline how digital services can embrace the circular economy, not just for the environment but also for its financial and business benefits such as reduced hardware costs and volumes while building stakeholder trust through a proactive, responsible waste strategy.

Prevention is best

Prevention is the best way to mitigate e-waste. By taking a smart refresh approach to device lifecycle management, products are only replaced when they need to be. One way of doing this is by installing device performance monitoring, such as Nexthink software, which indicates when a device performance is degraded and needs to be replaced. This enables a move away from time-based refresh so we can extend device lifecycles and reduce the rapid rate of tech turnover.

Security is always fundamental and can therefore dictate refresh cycles when operating systems no longer receive updates, as owners of iPhone XS and XR operating on iOS 17 recently experienced.

Repairing where possible

Another way to prevent E-waste is to repair, which can be carried out via engineers at tech bars.

The repair process isn’t always straightforward, but to make this easier, regulations like the EU EcoDesign mandate certain durability and repairability parameters that devices must meet, such as having spare parts available and ease of disassembly and reassembly. This enables longer device life and reduces the rate of rapid tech turnover.

Reuse: A second chance. A new life.

IT products can often be reused while maintaining the quality of the device. Companies like Circular Computing are challenging the idea that second-life equals second-best. They provide remanufactured laptops at BSI-kitemark levels, which means the second-life devices are as good as or better than new, with warranties up to five years.

It is important to note that this may not be suitable for all end-user personas and may require slightly more flexibility in lead times. Yet, it is critical to begin integrating examples like this that can demonstrate the balance of environmental benefits while maintaining enterprise-grade performance and reliability.

Devices can also be reused with a new life in a different sector, such as donated to schools or charities like the digital poverty alliance. It’s important to be mindful of device quality here, because donating problematic devices that cause technostress for those on the fringes of the digital divide may unintentionally do more harm than good.

It’s also possible to repurpose larger hardware like servers by deploying them to different projects or even clients after infrastructure changes.

Recycle with care

When products aren’t suitable for reuse, they should be recycled by WEEE-certified partners who break down equipment by dismantling and shredding it into constituent parts to maximise recycling rates. This also enables the recycling of valuable materials and minimises energy recovery and landfill, which is the final and least preferred method of disposal.

However, recovered materials are often sold and shipped to specialist facilities to be smelted to create usable secondary materials. So, recycled material has its own carbon footprint and we must be mindful of the next steps in this process.

Compensate. Ideate. Innovate.

Beyond the waste hierarchy, proactive steps like funding waste-positive services can significantly bolster efforts to combat global e-waste.

Waste compensation mirrors carbon offsetting by financing responsible e-waste collection and recycling where it wouldn’t otherwise occur, ensuring additionality (real-world benefits which would not have been possible in a business-as-usual scenario) and avoiding harmful practices like open burning that release toxic fumes.

Organisations like ‘Closing the Loop’ collect e-waste from African nations lacking local infrastructure, shipping it to Europe for ethical processing. The long-term vision? Empower these countries to build their own recycling facilities, eliminating transport needs and fostering self-sufficiency.

The future of technology must be circular – and that starts with rethinking how we design, use, and recover the devices that power our digital world.