Reuse and Recycling
Sean Nicholson
Reuse – the forgotten R
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
In contrast with many home appliances, life
cycle energy use of a computer is dominated by
production (81%) as opposed to operation
(19%).
(2004) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15573621
Over 4000
organisations
in over 90
countries.
Special
Windows
offers for
refurbished
PCs
Microsoft
Refurbisher
Programs
Large
government
supported
reuse
programs
www.microsoft.com/refurbishedpcs
Over 25% are
non profit
organisations
Dominated by
North America
& Western
Europe and
Japan
Reuse for economic opportunity
http://raceonline2012.org/manifesto/7
http://www.connect2compete.org/
Reuse helps people
Despite difficulties in obtaining data on new and used EEE as statistical
data does not distinguish between these two categories of products,
the studies in Ghana, for example, revealed that in 2009 around 70%
of all imports were used EEE. 30% of the used EEE imported was
determined to be non-functioning (hence should have been defined
as e-waste): half of this amount was repaired locally and sold to
consumers and the other half was un-repairable.
http://www.basel.int/Portals/4/download.aspx?d=UNEP-CHWEWASTE-PUB-WeeAfricaReport.English.pdf
The Strategic problem is not OECD Exports
of used EEE
Forecasting Global Generation of Obsolete Personal Computers
Jinglei Yu, Eric Williams, Meiting Ju and Yan Yang (March 2010)
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/es903350q
How do we drive more electronics through
certified reuse and recycling channels.
Why use a certified disposal channel?
To Avoid Risk Data, Legal
To get money
back
To help the
planet
Local Reuse & Disassembly can scale
easily to feed regional recycling
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle
EPEAT, SEPA,
Blue Angel, etc.
Standards ?
Targets ?
R2, E-stewards,
etc.
Supported by
many
Governments &
Enterprises
Specifically not
allowed by most
Governments &
Enterprises
Limited
supported but
many go for best
price
Change the conversation
• Education on disposal data risk
• Recognise standards and certification
• Better data, Case study the economic benefits
Change behaviour
• Governments only dispose of their electronics through certified refurbisher/recyclers
• Encourage Trade In programs to drive used EEE through formal programs
• Develop Reuse programs to support growth of broadband access for economic
development
Change the Ecosystem
• Make trans boundary movement inside certified recycler networks easier.
• Develop a certification program for quality refurbished PCs that are “Ready to
Reuse” so its an easy / safe purchase decision.
• Sponsor local reuse and disassembly capacity building
Thank You
seannich@microsoft.com