How to report on the environmental impact associated with refurbishing electronics? We developed a methodology for HPE Financial Services for customers engaged with their asset management services. LCA-expert Nata Dovgalenok tells you more about our approach in the article down below.
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Nata, can you tell us what the project was about?
“HPE Financial Services (HPEFS) offers financial solutions and IT asset management capabilities. With the largest IT manufacturer-owned refurbishing facilities in the world, they process millions of assets from data center to workplace such as servers, storage, PCs, printers, handheld devices and others regardless of brand.
Clients who send their items to HPEFS to be refurbished can receive a personalized report called the HPE Circular Economy Report (CER). Hedgehog partnered with HPEFS in the development of an advanced methodology, building on their existing report, that reflects the current needs of organizations to report on sustainability efforts. We were responsible for developing the calculations for the environmental savings of refurbishing these assets instead of just discarding them and buying new assets.
Previously, HPEFS clients received the HPE Circular Economy Report but containing a different model for supporting the calculations, which was based on a product attribute model. The newly developed methodology focuses on material-based impact assessment instead, to increase the robustness and accuracy of the CERs.”
Can you tell us more about the methodology you deployed?
“The methodology is based on a lot of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) principles; the outcome is an environmental profile with several impact categories. I say methodology, because what we developed is not an LCA or GHG footprint report, but rather a newly created framework.
“To create this, we first received a long list, with almost 50 different product types; servers, storage systems, laptops, keyboards, etc. Next to the methodological update, we created the database in Excel with the environmental impact of the product types. Based on the formulas from the methodology and the database, HPEFS’s team of IT-developers build a clients-specific assessment and report generator.”
“One of the metrics is, for example, tons of CO2-equivalent saved. For example, if you recycle or refurbish the product instead of putting it to a landfill or incinerating it, what is the impact of this regarding related CO2-equivalents (eq)? This means to demonstrate the avoided emissions if you take care to responsibly retire the tech through more sustainable means.”
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What were the challenges in this project?
“What made this project challenging is the question of who is “responsible” for the positive environmental impact being found through refurbishment. So, let's say that I use my laptop, and then I send it to HPEFS. And HPEFS refurbishes it, and someone else buys that refurbished laptop. Those two or three actions together, they result in the fact that a new laptop did not have to be produced.”
“But who gets the credit for that? Is it me who gets the credit for that, for sending the laptop? Or is it the user of the refurbished laptop?”
“The reports communicate it like this; you contribute to saving this amount of CO2. Because what happened is that a new laptop was not produced. Therefore, you also need to know how much the production of a new laptop would emit, and then you can say; okay, these emissions are avoided.”
“So, to do this, we had to calculate the impact of the production of each of those product types and of course under every product type there were lots of different products to be found, for which we had to make specific assumptions, or extrapolating emissions of different products to a whole product type.”
How did the team approach this big project?
Nata: “The first thing that had to be done was collecting all the bills of materials (BoM), for each type of product. Because not all of them were available, we had to dismantle a lot of products ourselves.”
Our colleagues Rik Wessels, Joost Walterbos and Saro Campisano went to Scotland to visit one of the HPE Technology Renewal Centers (TRCs). Because we needed the exact details about the products, and the refurbishment process, HPEFS worked with us closely to give us access to the inventory and processes.”
Rik: “At the Technology Renewal Center in Erskine, Scotland, we got a tour of the facility to get a better understanding of the refurbishment process. This also helped to get a better understanding of overall operations, the asset management and leasing structure, the logistics and refurbishment and recycling partners HPEFS works with.”
Nata: “After this, our LCA-experts Rik Wessels, Gloria Carta, Joël Beuerle and I all worked on this project, and we split the work into product types. So, everyone was responsible for a set of product types. But then when that was done, there were more things to consider, such as the impact of the refurbishment itself. And that was difficult to allocate.”
Also, we had to take into account different transport routes, as the tech don’t have the same scenario in the logistics step. Think about waste treatment. So, for example, if HPEFS did not take a laptop from a client, what would happen to it? That depends on geographical location, because in the Netherlands the story is not the same as in for example Estonia. So, we were all working on developing the formula for the methodology.”
How do you look back on this project?
“This was a unique experience as an LCA-team in building a fresh, extensive, methodology like this. So, it was a bit challenging, since it is work of a different nature than following a method. You must check in with yourself all the time, and ask yourself; is this reasonable? You must remain critical about the assumption you're making to make sure data and results are not greenwashing. This made it a very interesting project for me.
The collaboration with HPEFS was very pleasant, we were working closely with their global team. Our product manager was a joy to work with; very organized, and she managed to keep moving forward, despite the enormous amount of work we were facing.”
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