AfB social & green IT takes stock of ecological and social success: analysis confirms positive impact of IT refurbishing

Impact of AfB in 2021

08.03.2022

  • IT refurbishing saved 242 million litres of water, 130,300 MWh of energy and valuable raw materials last year
  • IT partnerships promote inclusion: of 600 employees at AfB, almost half of them have a disability

AfB social & green IT takes stock of 2021 and today published the latest figures on the impact of IT refurbishing on people and the environment. Because at this non-profit company, success is not only measured on an economic level, but above all on a social and ecological level. The conclusion is positive: Compared to new production, IT refurbishing and recycling have demonstrably saved 33,887 tonnes of CO2 , 242 million litres of water, 130,285 MWh of energy and 20,600 tonnes of iron-equivalents, concerning raw materials such as copper, silver, gold, palladium and cobalt. In addition, the inclusion company grew by 90 employees last year to a total of around 600, about 49% of whom are severely disabled.

"As a non-profit organisation, we measure our social, economic and ecological successes equally," explains AfB Managing Director Daniel Büchle. "Financial surpluses are completely reinvested with us to create inclusive jobs and make IT remarketing even more sustainable. In the long term, we want to create 500 jobs for people with disabilities. We are therefore very happy that we have come a big step closer to this goal in the past year despite COVID. We currently have 290 employees with severe disabilities and have thus already reached more than halfway to our goal."

IT refurbishment reduces environmental pollution and e-waste

Europe's largest non-profit IT company processed a total of 450,000 IT devices such as laptops, smartphones, PCs and peripherals in 2021, of which 59% were returned to a new usage cycle. The used equipment AfB collected from public clients and companies such as Siemens, Otto and REWE has a total weight of 2,200 tonnes. Thanks to a study by the climate protection organisation myclimate (2021), AfB is able to show the ecological effect of IT refurbishing in terms of CO2, water, raw materials and other KPIs.

Human health was also protected: this value can be credited with 178,300 tonnes in 1,4-dichlorobenzene equivalents (t 1,4-DB eq). In general, people are exposed to a wide range of environmental pollutants. Human toxicity measures their negative effects on health. For example, damage can be triggered by substances such as nitrogen oxides, which are released into the air, soil and water during the production of an IT device. In contrast, extending the useful life of a smartphone from 3 to 4.5 years, for example, leads to a 45% reduction in these human toxicity levels.

A calculation example also documents how closely resource consumption and CO2 emissions are linked, for example: If a laptop remanufactured by AfB is used for 7.5 instead of 4.5 years, 113.69 kg CO2-eq are saved - and thus 66%.

Partner companies also benefit from the numerous positive effects of the circular economy: They can have a certificate issued by AfB showing the ecological and social contribution they make through IT remarketing.

"Transparent impact figures become more important with each passing year for our partners who hand over used hardware to us. With our impact measurement, we enable them to communicate their social and ecological commitment in facts and figures," explains Daniel Büchle. "The immensely rising prices of energy, electricity, water and other resources as well as the increasing awareness regarding climate change have again highlighted the value of a sustainable circular economy.”

The new AfB social & green IT impact figures in a graphical visualization are available at the following link.

Further information about our Ecobalance are available here.