Socio-ecological impact through the reuse of IT hardware

Photo: © AfB | Arvato Systems

Gütersloh / April 25, 2024 – Arvato Systems has long collaborated with the non-profit IT company AfB. There, used hardware is refurbished, resold, and thus reused. As Europe's largest non-profit IT company with 660 employees, AfB gGmbH also focuses on inclusion: Currently, around 50% of the team consists of people with disabilities. AfB has now provided Arvato Systems with the certificate containing the figures for 2023 – an impressive result.

As an IT service provider and partner for the digital transformation of companies and public administrations, Arvato Systems relies on cutting-edge technology. This also means that hardware must be replaced at regular intervals. However, the corresponding devices don't simply end up in the landfill. Instead, Arvato Systems cooperates with the non-profit IT company AfB, where the hardware is remanufactured and resold. This helps reduce the extraction of raw materials and the social and environmental impacts of new IT production. If devices are no longer suitable for remanufacturing, for example, because they are defective or simply too old, they are disassembled, used for spare parts where possible, and otherwise handed over to certified companies for recycling.

AfB has now provided Arvato Systems with its figures for 2023. The current certificate shows that the partnership has secured a total of three jobs for people with disabilities. From an environmental perspective, according to AfB, Arvato Systems' circular economy practices from January 1 to December 31, 2023, saved, among other things, 407.780 kilograms of CO2 equivalents (= lower greenhouse gas emissions), 1.584.219 kWh of energy (= reduced primary energy consumption), and 137.582 kilograms of iron equivalents (= fewer raw materials consumed).

AfB's work also contributes to seven Social Development Goals (SDGs). These goals for sustainable development, agreed upon by the United Nations, include, for example, "sustainable consumption and production" (SDG 12), "climate action" (SDG 13), and "reduced inequalities" (SDG 10).