ITAM can help reduce e-waste
Jennifer Carr No Comments

In our latest members-only webinar, we looked at ITAM’s role in sustainability. How can ITAM contribute to an organisation’s ESG goals and reduce e-waste? With AJ Witt from the ITAM Review serving as host, we brought together a panel of ITAM and ITAD (IT Asset Disposition) experts to discuss this pressing topic.

Joining us were:

Brooks kicked off the discussion with the startling news that e-waste (electronic waste) currently represents the largest municipal waste stream in the world. The estimates are that more than 60 million tonnes of e-waste will be discarded this year alone. This is the equivalent to the total weight of the Great Wall of China or 800 laptops per second. What’s perhaps even more concerning is that this number is projected to double by 2050.

AJ pointed out that ITAM is in the rare position of being able to help organisations address all three parts of ESG: environmental, social and governance. It’s not just about recycling anymore. ESG as a concept is growing in importance. This is a big opportunity for ITAM.

Key takeaways

Some of the key takeaways from the session include:

  • Can you extend the life of your IT assets? Re-using an asset can be up to 20x less energy intensive than recycling it.
  • Build an inventory: Make sure you understand what’s end-of-life in your estate. Older hardware will generally be less energy efficient. This will help you to prioritise your efforts to make quick gains.
  • Don’t overlook data privacy risks. Managing the safe and efficient removal of data prior to the disposition of assets is critical and doable.
  • ESG is not just a Board Room priority. With pressure coming from all areas of the business, including employees, organisations cannot afford to ignore it.
Next steps

To explore these issues and more, ITAM Forum members can:

You may also be interested in this great white paper from Schneider Electric: Implementing Sustainable IT Asset Management Practices for Enterprise-wide Carbon Reduction.