The Challenge

Electronics power nearly everything we use today, from toothbrushes to cars to the screens we watch. They've driven decades of economic growth, but they also create a mounting problem: electronic waste, or e-waste.

In 2022, the world generated a record 62 million tonnes of e-waste - enough to fill 1.55 million 40-tonne trucks, roughly forming a bumper-to-bumper line encircling the equator (ITU and UNITAR, 2024). This is up 82% since 2010, and by 2030 the figure is expected to reach 82 million tonnes (ITU and UNITAR, 2024). Screens and small IT equipment together account for around 14.6% of e-waste by weight, only a fraction of which is properly recycled at end of life (ITU and UNITAR, 2024). When e-waste is not recycled, it releases harmful substances such as lead and mercury, which can pollute ecosystems and threaten human health (Forti et al., The Lancet Planetary Health, 2021).

On a business-as-usual path, e-waste is projected to cost the global economy $40 billion a year by 2030. If collection and recycling rates reach 60%, e-waste could instead generate $38 billion in net economic benefit (ITU and UNITAR, 2024). Closing that gap depends on building a circular system for IT equipment - one centred on recovery, life-extension, and recycling.

A Circular Solution

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Financial Services (HPE FS) leases IT equipment such as laptops and servers, rather than selling it outright. This allows HPE FS to take back used equipment at the end of the lease term, typically after three years. Of HPE FS's total leased asset base, roughly 40% is returned to its Technology Renewal Centres at end of lease; the remaining 60% is extended or bought out by the customer.

Returned laptops, small IT devices, and enterprise equipment such as servers are securely sanitised, inspected, and resold for a second life, mostly to corporate clients, under quality standards intended to ensure each device performs as a like-new product for its next user.

Through its Asset Upcycling Services, customers can also send end-of-life equipment directly to HPE FS, sharing in the revenue generated from its resale.

At the Erskine Technology Renewal Centre, HPE FS reports a remarketing rate of 94% for PCs and 86% for server assets - figures corroborated by HPE's own published Circular Economy Report and Living Progress Report.

The biggest challenge is customer perception. David Connell, Global Engineering Manager at the Erskine site, has described how many organisations want to recover value from their own retired equipment but remain hesitant to purchase secondary products themselves. HPE is addressing this through rigorous quality certification, demonstrating that refurbished equipment can perform as well as new.

Climate Impact

Over the past three years, HPE FS has processed 9.5 million IT assets worldwide and returned $1 billion to customer budgets (HPE, Living Progress Report 2024).

In FY2024 alone, HPE's Circular Economy Reports - issued to customers using its Asset Upcycling and lease-return services - recorded aggregate savings of approximately 298,000 tonnes of CO₂e, 27 million kWh of energy, and 7,760 tonnes of waste diverted from landfill (HPE, Living Progress Report 2024). HPE's own equivalency for the CO₂ figure is roughly 740,000 people flying from New York to Los Angeles.

HPE FS's work to extend the life of IT equipment reflects a broader shift toward circularity in the technology sector.

Replicability

• GreenIT, an Irish SME and CIRCULÉIRE member, remanufactures laptops to a like-new standard through a BSI Kitemark-certified process, restoring and testing hardware and software components. Every GreenIT remanufactured laptop comes with a 3–5 year extended warranty and costs up to 40% less than an equivalent new laptop (GreenIT, 2024).

  
  

• IQUTECH, headquartered in Limerick and a CIRCULÉIRE member, is a returns-management company providing refurbishment, repair, and remarketing services for major electronics manufacturers including Dell, HP, Acer, Lenovo, and Apple.

  
  

• Refurbed, headquartered in Vienna, Austria, offers refurbished consumer electronics - including smartphones, laptops, and tablets - through its Irish storefront, with savings of up to 40% versus new, a 30-day free trial, and a minimum 12-month warranty; it also runs a trade-in scheme for end-of-life devices.

  
  

• SK tes, a global IT asset disposition (ITAD) company with owned facilities in over 20 countries, including a site in Shannon, Co. Clare, prioritises refurbishment and remarketing of end-of-life IT equipment alongside certified data destruction and battery recycling.

  
  

• Circular Computing, based in the UK, remanufactures HP, Dell, and Lenovo laptops to "as good as new" condition through its BSI Kitemark-certified Circular Remanufacturing Process, offering up to 40% cost savings compared to new devices, alongside carbon-neutral certification.