Taking action to reduce emissions and be more sustainable are becoming baseline expectations of companies, especially as pathways to addressing environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) issues become more achievable. These actions should demonstrably make a positive impact and foster environmental stewardship to avoid “greenwashing”. Many companies around the world are taking demonstrable steps to innovate and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Keep reading to learn how recycling e-waste, big data, and recyclable materials drive eco-friendly innovations worldwide.
Earlier this year, The UK Royal Mint announced that it will use new chemistry from Canadian company, Excir, which will allow The Royal Mint to extract gold from circuit boards from used mobile phones and laptops. The innovative new process will be part of the company’s new plant, which is expected to be operational in 2023. By selectively targeting the metal in e-waste, the Royal Mint will be able to recover over 99 per cent of the precious metals used to produce phones and laptops.
With this rate of recovery, it’s expected that hundreds of kilograms of gold could be extracted each year. In an earlier statement from October 2021, The Royal Mint said it was also looking at the potential to recover copper, silver and palladium from e-waste too.
In early 2021, transport and ride-hailing company Bolt launched the “Bolt 4”, an electric scooter that is 100 per cent recyclable. The launch followed “Digital Day” in 2021, where Bolt and 24 other technology companies from around the world pledged to develop “green digital solutions”. The Bolt 4 is made from aluminium and has a lifespan of up to five years. The company owns its whole supply chain, which enables its in-house teams to replace faulty scooters without decommissioning another scooter. In short, no scooter is replaced using parts from another scooter.
Finally, the scooter’s optimised engineering and construction make way for a swappable battery solution, which provides a lower centre of gravity and easier battery swapping.
Hardware manufacturer Dell uses big data to track its energy consumption and quickly action as needed. The company uses the solution to optimise space utilisation in configuring and placing hardware, racks, cabinets, and power and cooling equipment. It also has the capability to produce 3D simulations of data centres in real time. Using the technology in-house and for its customers, IT departments get a 3D inventory of their data centre equipment, which includes thermal mapping to track temperature distribution and airflow. This allows IT professionals to optimise future equipment deployments to reduce energy consumption and utilise spaces efficiently. Further, Dell’s big data play has allowed the company to make eco-friendly changes, such as changing its packaging to wheat straw, which requires 40 per cent less energy to produce.
The companies listed above are well established and have the technology and financial means to develop proprietary products and technologies or enter into partnerships with global innovators. Fortunately, making a difference and being a better steward of the environment doesn’t require drastic changes to your operations. By changing how you source and finance some of your technology assets, your company can become part of and contribute to the circular economy and reduce its emissions in the process.
Solutions such as asset finance through leasing can help companies lower their environmental footprint every time they acquire and use devices, such as laptops and mobile phones, without large capital investments.
Quadrent’s Green Lease can play an important part in helping companies redistribute or responsibly dispose of their devices once they have reached the end of their useful life within the organisation. Not only will this reduce the amount of e-waste that companies produce (reducing CO2 emissions), but with our initiative to help people in need get access to devices in their “second life”, laptops and phones are kept in use for longer.
This makes a positive social impact and a demonstrable difference to a company’s environmental footprint.
Quadrent works with organisations helping them proactively address their ESG risk, by accurately managing their leased technology. With a team that has in-depth leasing knowledge and specialised accounting backgrounds, we’ll help you get the most value out of your assets while addressing growing ESG requirements and reporting expectations.
Start your ESG journey simply and effectively with Quadrent. Click here for more information.