ProCirc

The future of ICT: Circular solutions for a post-Covid world

07 April 2021 - Published by Eric Boessenkool
The webinar “The future of ICT: Circular solutions for a post-Covid world”, delivered as part of the ProCirc project, took place on 18 March 2021. The event provided a greater understanding of the environmental and financial benefits that can be gained through adapting circular procurement principles to the ICT sector. Different case study examples were presented to illustrate how this can be put into practice.

The event started with the presentation of Zero Wase Scotland about the impacts of the ICT supply chain, considering both, an environmental and social perspective. It also highlighted the environmental, economic and social benefits of extending the useful life of a product, presented alternatives to procurement of new devices and stressed the importance of identifying what the drivers for change are (economic, social, environmental). During the presentations it was emphasized that circular procurement is not only about purchasing circular products but also about retaining their value. Different circular business models were introduced and Rijkswaterstaat presented the call to action of the Circular and Fair ICT Pact (CFIT).

As practical examples, the city of Malmö presented their procurement methods and the challenges that a big organisation face to buy refurbished ICT. Glasgow Kelvin College introduced the lessons learnt when prolonging life of computers by upgrading hardware components. And last but not least, Re-tek, explained from a business perspective their activities promoting EEE reuse and circular economy projects.

Some of the event takeaways are: to make clear what the organisation objectives are, to take all the lifecycle costs into consideration, to identify available alternatives to new purchases, to use the existing experience available, to develop pilots, and to share and collaborate with others.

You can find the recording of the webinar available here.

Photo by Jason Jarrach on Unsplash.