Reduce E-waste and Maximize Asset Value Recovery When Decommissioning a Data Center

1. Reduce E-waste and Maximize Asset Value Recovery When Decommissioning a Data Center Decommissioning an enterprise data center is a large and complex project that requires hundreds of hours of effort and specialized expertise. IT departments are responsible for migrating applications and workloads, securing sensitive data, and physically removing IT assets from existing facilities, often within tight schedules and specified budgets. Blog URL: https://sphaera.net/reducing-e-waste-and-maximizing-asset-value-recovery-when-decommissioning-an-enterprise-data-center/

2. The Growing E-waste Problem • E-waste is the collective term used for electronics that are at or near the end of their useful life. The term includes everything from household electronics and consumer smart devices to enterprise data center assets and IT infrastructure.  The EPA defines the term further, recognizing that there is an inherent value in the materials, components, and metals that can be reused, refurbished, recovered, or recycled.  E-waste is a rapidly growing challenge as electronic devices and data centers become more common. A 2020 UN report found that 53.6 million tons of e-waste were produced in the previous year. The same report also predicted that the volume of e-waste will grow to more than 74 million tons by 2030 – double the amount produced in 2014. China, the US, and India were the largest producers of e-waste, combining to account for nearly 40 percent of the world’s total. 

3. The Environmental Costs of E-waste • Electronic devices are made with many different materials. Some, including gold, silver, copper, platinum, palladium, neodymium and other rare earth elements are highly valuable to recyclers, and the amount of these precious metals and other materials that can be recovered is significant. The EPA suggests that one metric ton of circuit boards contains 40 to 800 times more gold than one metric ton of ore.  On the other hand, however, e-waste also contains toxic and damaging materials that can cause serious harm to both people and the environment if leached into water supplies or released into ecosystems. Among these are heavy metals such as lead, mercury, and cadmium, polluting materials such as PVC plastics, and hazardous chemicals such as arsenic. 

4. Reducing E-waste and Maximizing Asset Value Recovery • Enterprises are in a unique position to reduce the volume of e-waste dumped in landfills through effective reselling, recycling, and disposal of IT assets.  Unfortunately, many organizations simply do not have the people, processes, and expertise available to manage the disposal of IT assets in-house. Obsolete and unused assets often end up sitting in storage rooms because enterprises are unsure what to do with them and do not want to re-recognize the assets to recover any residual value. As a result, only 23 percent of enterprises look to resell IT equipment, while a full 26 percent dispose of it without attempting to recycle.

5. Keeping E-waste Out of the Landfill When Decommissioning an Enterprise Data Center • Beyond being the right thing to do, enterprises that value environmental, social, and governance responsibilities must ensure that they follow these values when decommissioning the data center.  In most cases, physically removing the equipment from the facility is the easy part. But before this can take place, enterprises should develop, communicate, and implement a clear plan for how to manage e-waste, how to maximize asset value recovery, and how to ensure that assets without residual value are properly recycled.  Not only does this help to offset the costs of the decommissioning project, but it also contributes to solving the growing problem of e-waste.

6. Contact US • Name: Sphaera, Inc. • Address: 7850 NE Nicholas Ct., Suite A • Hillsboro, OR 97124 • City: Hillsboro • U.S. state: Oregon • Phone: 1-800-705-2619 • Website: https://sphaera.net/