Harnessing the untapped profit of e-waste

E-waste poses a significant challenge for companies focused on impact reduction. In 2022 alone, 62 million tonnes of e-waste were produced—enough to fill 1.5 million trucks. If those trucks were parked bumper to bumper, they would circle the entire equator.

Without addressing the problem today, that waste pile is projected to grow to an annual 82 million tonnes by 2030.¹

Within every challenge lies an opportunity, and companies that can provide solutions to this growing problem have the potential for significant profit and cost reduction.

Let’s look at the ways companies can turn this challenge into profit.

E-waste is defined as any component or item with a plug or battery.¹ With this definition in mind, a stocktake of an enterprise-scale company’s monitors, computers, servers, sensors, tools, and more reveals the scale of the issue. Even well-intentioned purchases, such as photovoltaics and heat pumps, can end up in the e-waste pile if not carefully managed.

At the smaller end of this stocktake, handsets and monitoring devices contain rare earth elements and have historically had a short shelf life. At the larger end, screens and HVAC equipment have longer lifespans but are bulkier and more complex to recycle.

Addressing the issue means looking not only at the component parts but also the product lifecycle. This is why the Singtel Group runs customer and employee e-waste collection schemes to prevent devices from ending up in landfill. 

NCS runs an e-waste collection day for employees and makes the collection bins available in the office at all times. In just one day 424kg of personal e-waste items were collected. At Singtel stores and customer touchpoints, 49.5 tonnes of e-waste was collected and diverted from landfill.

Empowering customers and employees to take an active role in reducing e-waste enhances the company’s impact and lowers the costs of running year-round schemes.

For Singaporean companies subject to the National Environmental Agency’s Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) scheme, these easy-to-deploy projects ensure compliance and help avoid associated penalties.²

The most sustainable device is one that doesn’t exist. When no raw materials are used and no items are shipped, the environmental impact is zero. For companies on the path to increased digitalisation, this strategy is becoming a reality.

Deploying cloud environments eliminates e-waste by reducing the need for on-site computers, servers, and cooling systems. Shifting these operations to organisations that operate sustainable data centers also directly addresses scope 3 emissions.

This increased digitalisation can create higher demand for network services. To ensure that the transition from hardware to virtualisation builds continued sustainability, this demand should be carefully monitored for its impact on energy use, equipment lifecycles and downstream supply chains.

Singtel CUBΣ is a suite of security and network services that dynamically optimises the path selection for workloads, in turn improving internet performance. The insights offered also enable enterprises to understand and monitor the network through metrics that reveal its environmental impact. This increased visibility leads to a better understanding of where efficiencies can be built.

As companies shift toward extensive digitalisation, their reliance on raw materials decreases, creating profit potential for those earlier in the journey by allowing them to manage the waste. It is estimated that the profit potential from just one tonne of e-waste can reach nearly USD 10,000.⁶

While e-waste is growing, so is the potential to offset costs and create new revenue streams by addressing the issue. Reducing, recycling and repurposing provide channels for e-waste reduction today, while removing the products entirely sets a strategy for the long term. 

Engaging employees and customers as sustainability advocates also increases the impact of e-waste reduction schemes, and repurposing and recycling second-life devices unlocks ongoing value.

Ultimately, digitalisation closes the loop on these initiatives and removes the need for continuous device replacement. 

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