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E-waste doesn’t get talked about enough.
It sits quietly in cupboards, comms rooms, spare offices, and storage units. Old laptops. Retired servers. Phones that might come in ‘handy one day’. For most organisations, it’s not seen as urgent, just something to deal with later.
The problem is, putting it off is how e-waste became such a big issue in the first place!
A growing issue that’s easy to ignore
Globally, e-waste is now the fastest-growing waste stream in the world.
The latest Global E-waste Monitor 2024, produced by the UN’s ITU and UNITAR, reported that 62 million tonnes of e-waste were generated in 2022 alone. That’s up 82% since 2010, and the figure is expected to reach 82 million tonnes by 2030.
Those numbers are hard to visualise. The report puts it another way: the e-waste generated in a single year would fill 1.55 million 40-tonne trucks, enough to form a line around the equator.
What’s more concerning is what happens next. Less than 22.3% of that e-waste was formally collected and properly processed. The rest was lost, dumped, stockpiled, or handled in ways that increase environmental and human risk.
So this isn’t a future problem because it’s already happening.
Why businesses play a bigger role than they realise
Most small and mid-sized organisations don’t see themselves as contributors to an e-waste crisis. They’re just refreshing devices, upgrading infrastructure, or responding to growth.
But it all adds up.
Every hardware refresh creates a decision point. And too often, that decision is made quickly or by default. Equipment gets stored ‘just in case’, passed around without a clear record, or sent away without much thought about where it ends up or what happens to the data on it.
From an IT and governance perspective, that’s risky. And from an environmental one, it’s wasteful.
E-waste sits right at the intersection of security, sustainability, and responsibility, whether businesses intend it to or not.
Reuse first. Always.
One of the biggest misconceptions about e-waste is that recycling is the best outcome.
Sometimes it is. But often, it isn’t the first or most responsible option.
At IT Naturally, we work with ICEX Group to securely reuse and recycle end-of-life technology, in that order.
Where equipment can be revived, refurbished, and reused, that’s almost always preferable to breaking it down for parts. It extends the life of the device, reduces demand for new raw materials, and keeps usable tech in circulation for longer.
Only when reuse isn’t viable does recycling become the right next step.
This hierarchy matters, especially when you consider that only 1% of global rare earth element demand is currently met through e-waste recycling.
Security and sustainability aren’t competing goals
A common concern we hear is that reuse might compromise security. In reality, reuse done properly is often more secure than ad-hoc disposal.
Every device handled through our partnership with ICEX goes through secure, auditable data erasure processes before any decision is made about its future. Data protection isn’t treated as a box to tick. It’s the starting point.
As Mark Russell, Client Services Director at ICEX Group, points out, sustainability only works when security is taken seriously. You can’t separate the two.
For organisations operating under GDPR, ISO standards, or sector-specific compliance requirements, that reassurance matters.
End-of-life IT still has value (sometimes)
Another assumption worth challenging is that old equipment has no value.
Sometimes, refurbished assets can offset the cost of collection and processing. Sometimes they can generate a rebate. And sometimes, there’s no commercial value left, and recycling is the only sensible route.
The key is honesty and a case-by-case approach, that’s why we avoid oversimplifying this part of the conversation. Responsible e-waste handling isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach.
Why this conversation is changing
More organisations are being asked to evidence their environmental and social impact, whether through ESG reporting, procurement processes, or customer expectations.
E-waste is starting to come under greater scrutiny, and rightly so. It’s no longer enough to say you recycle your IT without understanding what that actually means in practice.
Handled well, end-of-life technology becomes part of a broader, more responsible IT strategy. Handled badly, it creates risk, waste, and reputational damage.
Being realistic about solutions
Neither IT Naturally nor ICEX claims to have solved the e-waste crisis, but what we can do is help our customers and partners make better decisions consistently. Design IT strategies that consider the full lifecycle of technology. Prioritise reuse. Treat security as non-negotiable. Work with partners who are transparent about outcomes rather than making sweeping claims.
As a B Corp™, IT Naturally is committed to balancing people, planet, and profit. Responsible technology reuse and recycling is one small but meaningful part of that commitment.
And it’s an area where incremental improvements, made by many organisations, genuinely add up.
Interested in learning more about this topic?
Our next podcast episode digs into this topic in more detail, with Mark Russell joining us as a guest.
Follow the IT Naturally podcast wherever you get your podcasts, or bookmark this page so you don’t miss it when it goes live!