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Compared to our European neighbours, the UK adoption of the Circular Economy as a whole is relatively slow. Scotland have recently finished a consultation on how they’ll adapt to a circular economy, whilst England and Wales lag behind. Procurement teams across the UK can be at the forefront of the circular economy by reducing e-waste from their supply chains.
500,000 tonnes of e-waste is lost through being thrown away, hoarded, stolen, or illegally exported and often these metals are integral for wind turbines, electric vehicles and solar panels which are part of the UK’s net-zero plan.
However, further afield such as in Agbogbloshie, is the world’s largest e-waste dumpsites. Abandoned phones, computers, and home appliances stretch across 20 acres in scrapyards. Working within the scrapyards are young men using hammers or stones to get at valuable materials inside: copper, gold, steel and aluminium and burning e-waste to melt away plastic insulation around wires or circuit boards to salvage the metal which is a hazard to their health.
In Brazil, Belo Horizonte’s Computer Reconditioning Centre (CRC) is a government led electronic remanufacturing facility that reduces e-waste and tackles youth unemployment through digital inclusion, skills development and waste reduction. Since their launch in 2008, Belo Horizonte CRC has restored 7,000 post-use IT products (CPUs, monitors, printers), diverted 15,000kg of post-use electronics whilst training 10,000 citizens in basic technological skills. In 2011 the region was recognised as Brazil’s most digitally advanced city.
Remanufacturing in the UK
BSI Group, have recently launched a new Kitemark specifically for remanufacturing and are working to submit new proposals to ISO. Currently there are no international standards for remanufacturing and the BSI Group aim is to submit proposals to ISO to set-up a new international standard for remanufacturing.
Circular Computing, a leader in developing this Kitemark with the BSI Group is at the forefront of laptop remanufacturing. Their focus currently is to remanufacture premium-brand HP, Dell and Lenovo second-user laptops to deliver products with the performance of new models and an RMA of less than 3%.
The environmental benefits of remanufacturing are linked to overall economic and social benefits. The processes require significantly less raw materials, energy and water and therefore produce less carbon and waste.
Remanufacturing has a critical role to play in meeting carbon, e-waste and waste in general targets whilst mitigating modern slavery and human right violations.
Public sector procurement can be the leaders and should be at the forefront of realising our net-zero ambitions. However, the Procurement Bill as it stands today does very little to improve upon environmental obligations, which is why we’re calling on procurement professionals, stakeholders and organisations to sign the Procurement Bill 2022 petition to enshrine legal environmental obligations into the Procurement Bill to ensure all specifications and contractors have a net positive impact upon the environment and that this requirement is designed into the procurement and management of public spend.
