Kickstarting a Circular Economy for the Data Centre industry

The transition from a linear to a circular economy is a HUGE challenge, especially with regard to electrical and electronic equipment. The data centre industry is heavily reliant on such equipment but attention to sustainability typically focuses on energy efficiency and carbon reduction. The CEDaCI (Circular Economy for the Data Centre Industry) project was established to raise awareness about the (un)sustainability of current DCI business practices, and to demonstrate the potential for change and improving material resource efficiency. CEDaCI brings together stakeholders from across the sector (designers, manufacturers, operators, refurbishers, recyclers) to output: - Two products/processes/technologies developed & tested in real-life conditions; - Eco-design/design guidelines to accelerate manufacture of circular economy-fit products; - A decision-making tool for all data center sub-sectors to optimise CE business models; - Improved refurbishment, recycling and reclamation strategies for WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and CRM (Critical Raw Materials). The delivery team consists of eight partners: Aliter Networks, Dialasheep, Greem IT Amsterdam, London South Bank University (LSBU, where Deborah is based), Operational Intelligence, Sims Recycling Solutions, WeLoop and Wuppertal Institute. This talk describes the overall project journey, achievements to date along with resources available for use already and challenges ahead.