A second life for laptops and other devices

When it comes to protecting the environment, Norway has long been streets ahead of its European neighbors. The country still leads the way in the generation of electricity from renewable energies and in electric-powered transport. The growing demand for refurbishing services at the site in Skien has highlighted how companies are increasingly focusing on sustainability when it comes to IT infrastructure, procurement, and disposal processes, for example.

It comes as no surprise that the IT experts in Skien are processing and refurbishing a continually increasing volume of assets. Whenever possible, equipment is given a second lifecycle, with only hopeless cases sent for recycling. “Our focus is on remarketing. According to the United Nations, producing a desktop PC generates 700 kilograms of CO₂, so it is twenty times better for the environment to use it a second time than to recycle it,” says Jan-Thore Johnson, Senior Technical Sales at CHG-MERIDIAN in Skien. “Across the CHG-MERIDIAN Group, 96 percent of assets are refurbished. Equipment that cannot be remarketed is recycled in a professional and environmentally responsible way. For this, we only use certified partners who like us attach great importance to returning the recovered resources to the material cycle.”

When it comes to remarketing, the security of the data stored on the used assets is a highly sensitive matter. To ensure that the data stays out of the wrong hands, the specialists go much further than merely formatting storage media or resetting devices to their factory settings.

From sealed transport to compliance checks on buyers, data security is an end-to-end process. To start with, incoming assets are counted and registered. IT specialists then assess whether the assets are suitable for reuse and allocate them to specific categories. The final step is the obligatory, ISO-certified data erasure, which is also carried out on assets destined for recycling.

The international secondary market for used equipment, which CHG-MERIDIAN can access via certified partners and wholesalers, has grown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Demand for IT equipment increased manifold in the first half of 2020, in particular. “During the first lockdown, one customer requested 10,000 laptops and 20,000 monitors in one go, as their workforce had to work from home,” says Johnson. “Not all enquiries were of this magnitude, but overall they have increased our revenue by more than 50 percent year-on-year.”

Regardless of the pandemic, there is a growing trend towards working from home, putting pressure on companies to equip their employees with the devices to do so. With budgets often stretched at the moment, it makes sense for companies to consider reusing their existing equipment, which can be brought up to date by having the specialists at CHG-MERIDIAN refurbish it. This can free up funds to be used elsewhere.