Tech giant, Microsoft, has announced the next step of its sustainability strategy with a focus on waste management.
The announcement outlines how the company will deploy technology to support the global effort to reduce waste.
It includes a commitment to achieve zero waste by 2030 for its direct waste footprint, including manufacturing 100% recyclable Surface devices.
It also includes the implementation of Microsoft Circular Centers at data centres to reuse and repurpose servers and hardware; and the target of eliminating single use plastics in packaging by 2025.
“To meet the growing demand for our cloud services, our datacenter footprint – and the 3 million servers and related hardware that power it – must expand,” the company said.
We are setting ambitious goals for each and empowering our customers with the technology and our learnings to do the same
“Today, these servers have an average lifespan of five years and contribute to the world’s growing e-waste problem. To reduce this waste, we plan to repurpose and recycle these devices through new Microsoft Circular Centers, which will be located first on our new major datacenter campuses or regions, and eventually added to existing ones.”
It will also aim to digitise waste data across the company in order to identify opportunities to improve waste data collection.
A $30 million investment through the Microsoft Climate Innovation Fund in Closed Loop Partners will set out to help accelerate the infrastructure, innovation and business models for supply chain digitisation, e-waste collection, food waste reduction and recycling industry products, the company says.
Zero waste journey
Microsoft is also empowering its customers on their own ‘zero waste journey’ through its technology.
Colchester Borough Council provides services to 192,500 residents, from licensing to recycling. To better understand where residents need support and encouragement with their recycling to reduce landfill waste, the council is now moving function-specific systems to Microsoft Dynamics 365, enabling it to drive important data insights with the recycling tracking system.
The zero waste goal is the third sprint in Microsoft’s broad environmental sustainability initiative launched earlier this year focusing on carbon, water, ecosystems and waste.
Zero waste is an ambitious goal, but minimising our own waste footprint is essential to preserving the natural resources and reducing waste-associated carbon emissions
“We are setting ambitious goals for each and empowering our customers with the technology and our learnings to do the same,” the company said.
“No one person or organisation can solve the global waste problem. It will take all of us doing our part, including using better data to understand the problem and make smart waste policy decisions.
“Zero waste is an ambitious goal, but minimising our own waste footprint is essential to preserving the natural resources and reducing waste-associated carbon emissions to ensure our economies and societies around the world thrive for generations to come.”