Building A More Sustainable Future

5.12.2022

Technology plays an important role in creating a more sustainable future. In fact, BCG notes that companies who are willing to think broadly about how to advance their sustainability initiatives will find that technology can act as a major accelerant in this process. One of the easiest ways your organization can play a part is through electronics donation and recycling, which is a great way to help conserve resources and natural materials.

Donating or recycling consumer electronics not only conserves our natural resources and avoids air and water pollution, but also eliminates greenhouse gas emissions that are caused by manufacturing virgin materials.

The EPA offers a few good examples of the impact this can have:

• One million recycled laptops saves the energy equivalent of the electricity used by more than 3,500 US homes yearly.
• For every million cell phones we recycle, 35 thousand pounds of copper, 772 pounds of silver, 75 pounds of gold, and 33 pounds of palladium can be recovered.

Recycling technology and having a sustainable impact is a hot topic issue in the technology sector as more and more companies are looking for ways to have a positive impact on our environment. Our friends and partners at HP are one such company, and aim to be the most sustainable and just technology company in the world.

Reporting on their sustainability since 2001, HP has a vision to create technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere. Here are just a few things they’ve accomplished in that time:

• Achieve zero deforestation associated with HP brand paper and paper-based product packaging.
• Used 2,860,000 pounds of ocean-bound plastic in their products since 2016, equivalent to more than 102M.
• Partnered with WWF to pledge $80M to restore, protect, and improve the health of forests.
• Decreased their carbon footprint by 4% compared to 2019.
• Decreased their water footprint to 209,097,000 cubic meters, 11% less than 2019.

Leading companies, like HP, understand that achieving sustainability goals requires a systemic approach to the transformation, one that takes a 360-degree view of the challenge. At Datasmith we know that reducing, reusing, and recycling can help you, your community, and the environment by saving money, energy, and natural resources.

The EPA has some terrific tips for ways you can engage and motivate your employees or co-workers to help reduce waste in the office, allowing your business to go green. Want to learn how to better recycle your technology? Contact us today and we’ll help explain our process when it comes to leveraging IT – and ensuring a sustainable future.