Can the pandemic help us to embrace refurbished electronics?

Electronic waste or e-waste describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. Used electronics which are destined for refurbishment, reuse, resale, salvage recycling through material recovery, or disposal are also considered e-waste. Informal processing of e-waste in developing countries can lead to adverse human health effects and environmental pollution. (Source: Wikipedia)

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As the pandemic has impacted supply chains, some electronics manufacturers have struggled to produce new equipment. Could this be the moment for refurbishing and reusing existing equipment?

Sales of electronics goods have surged in recent months as millions around the world have turned their homes into offices and digital classrooms. Within the first two weeks of March, the US saw computer monitor sales double and demand for laptops, mice, and keyboards all increase by 10%.

That might sound like good news for manufacturers, but the other winners could be those pushing for circular economies that facilitate a continual use of resources.

Arjen Workum, a network consultant at Aliter Networks, a Netherlands company specializing in reusing IT hardware, believes this could be a key moment for sustainable production. According to him, the fact that many manufacturers haven't been able to produce and supply new equipment, has made them start "to look in other directions to keep their infrastructure running," and that they are now "opening up for our [circular] business model." 

Aliter Networks recently became the first B-Corp certified IT company to promote a circular economy - a certification only received by companies across the world that meet the highest standards of social and environmental performance in business. Since 2009, Aliter has reused over 150,000 IT network products such as switches and routers, saving at least 310,000 kilos of e-waste. 

Company, mostly get used networking equipment, which is essentially from where all the data is transmitted. They check any cosmetic damage, repaint it, attach accessories and remarket it around the world. According to the Sales Director and Partner at Aliter, refurbished networking devices could have a life of between 10 to 15 years.  

The company is aiming to reuse half a million IT products by 2025. But if the appetite for refurbished parts continues once supply chain issues are resolved, it might hit the target even sooner.  

According to Miquel Ballester, Circular Innovation Lead at Fairphone, increased interest in reusing and refurbishing resources is a "perfect example of what happens in a crisis situation when things cannot be taken for granted anymore."

Another company that's seen its business increase is Argo360 — a service organization also based in the Netherlands that refurbishes and markets end of life (EOL) IT equipment such as laptops, tablets, mobile phones, and monitors. Many of their customers are hardware manufacturers struggling to source new parts.

Sandor Bergsma, partner at Argo360 attributes the recent uptick in interest to supply chain issues, and is of the opinion that this is chance for people to realize that "refurbished products work fine."

Is the world ready for a switch to circular?

Source PEW Research Center 2019

But in a world that generates about 50 million tons of electric and electronic waste annually - roughly equivalent to discarding 1,000 laptops every single second, opting for refurbished goods is still relatively uncommon. 

Even though the European Union adopted a new Circular Economy Action Plan in March that aims to ensure resources used are kept in the EU economy for as long as possible, there is still the issue of changing mindsets. 

IT companies in Europe are legally bound to delete old personal data from organization's systems under the EU General Data Protection Regulation (or GDPR), but many people remain concerned that older devices can become the source of potential data breaches and leakages.

In Europe, After you've used a certain product, it is important to make sure that you are doing everything the right way because of the environment but also because of the law. So, if you have a company, you are obliged by the law in Europe to remove all data from every employee or person from a workstation or laptop and household at a certain time.

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These activities are essential to sustain society - and keep the economy running - but they don't generate profit and are largely left to women.

"We value jobs that are more profitable for capital accumulation more than we value jobs that are profitable for the sustainability of life,so we have a completely distorted way about thinking about the value of jobs.

'Nutritious base' vs. 'junkie economy'

But Hasan Alkas, professor of Macroeconomics at Rhine Waal University of Applied Sciences in Germany, doesn't believe consumers are ready to embrace the "second-hand market” in the long-term. 

During the crisis, nobody wants to spend too much, everyone wants to hold onto the money and if there is a choice between the old one and the new one, the choice will to buy an old one.

Students might be one group more readily willing to buy and use refurbished products.

A 21-year-old Indian engineering student feels happy to buy such product, if it has all the necessary specifications, a reasonable price with at least two years warranty. 

Global E-waste Flows

Source :www.weforum.org

But for the most part, enabling safe circularity in the IT industry - regardless of the coronavirus crisis - is a challenge that remains new in technological, legal and social spheres. 

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