Reusing ICT equipment is key to sustainability.

“Reusing ICT equipment must be core to any carbon emissions strategy as recycling and carbon offsetting is simply not enough,” stated Nick Bowden, Director of Video Management Servers Co.

Recent estimates indicate that producing new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment accounts for up to 4% of global carbon emissions, following sectors like electricity, heat, transport, manufacturing, and construction. Producing 1 kg of ICT equipment, like laptops, generates about 200 kg of CO₂e emissions; comparable to a family car driving 1,650km. With some servers weighing over 20 kg, the scale of the issue becomes clear. Recycling offsets approximately 4Kg out of the 200Kg of emissions. Carbon offsetting, which involves supporting nature-based or renewable projects, also contributes to emission reductions; however, this approach addresses emissions indirectly instead of the root causes.

“The issue is our readiness, as a society, to dispose of ICT equipment in landfills, not reuse it. Each time we landfill instead of reusing or renewing, another 200 kg of emissions is produced per Kg of the replacement. The prime reason cited being the need for warranties,” added, Nick Bowden.

“MOSS™ Managed On-Site Servers are renewed servers which are owned, managed, maintained and warrantied by us. We have statistics for the longevity of the individual ICT components and boards in the server. This means, when we put these proven boards in ‘as-new’ servers we can easily offer a 7- year warranty or more, with field-engineer support.

“Government hasn't formalized a carbon offset policy for ‘reuse’ yet but is considering one, as reusing ICT products would clearly impact carbon emissions far more than recycling or carbon offsetting. However, a mindset change on renewed servers is required, which we hope to achieve with MOSS™.”

Video Management Servers Co. - Making VMS and analytics simple, affordable and sustainable.