Maximising circularity: why laptop recycling must be done right

In this article

• The refurbishment and repair process
• What happens when a laptop cannot be repaired?

The refurbishment and repair process

Did you know that old and broken laptops represent approximately 10% of global e-waste generation? There’s a range of broad equipment categories to classify waste electronic equipment, and laptops fall into the “Screens and Monitors” group — see UNITAR’s Global E-waste Monitor for more on this subject. Anecdotally, laptops make up a significant proportion of our collections, yet they also present some of the best opportunities for high-impact, low-carbon circularity.

When you recycle laptops with us, we maximise their potential for reuse by repairing and fully refurbishing them. We handle every aspect of this with a secure, rigorous and certified data deletion processes. We handle every device in compliance with GDPR regulations and to the highest environmental standards:

1. We remove and securely wipe all data-bearing devices, following NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) guidelines.
2. Each component undergoes individual testing using specialist diagnostic software.
3. We replace faulty components with refurbished parts sourced from other devices, wherever possible.
4. We reinstall and validate the operating system once the device has passed all of our rigorous tests.
5. We thoroughly clean and disinfect the devices
6. Finally, we re-deploy laptops for use by businesses and individual consumers.

This process requires a significant investment in skilled labour, specialist knowledge, and time. Unlike lower-cost recyclers who prioritise rapid material recovery, we invest in extending the life of each device — the most environmentally responsible outcome. This has a positive effect on the environmental impact of e-waste.

What happens when a laptop cannot be repaired?

You can see that we make every effort to prioritise reuse and refurbishment with a thorough and secure process, but there are also devices which we deem as Beyond Economical Repair (BER). We carefully dismantle these devices to salvage all of the components that can we can use in other repairs or sell on as a useful product.

We break down and shred the remaining components in a recycling method called ‘granulation’. It’s actually more economical to go direct to granulation, and many recyclers do this — after all it still supports the circular economy through material recovery and remanufacturing, but it comes with a considerably higher carbon footprint and cost to the environment.

Critical parts, such as motherboards and circuit boards, are refined to reclaim precious metals, supporting the vital practice of urban mining. Urban mining reduces reliance on traditional mining, which is associated with widespread habitat destruction and significant air, soil, and water pollution.

We routinely save and reuse components

Thanks to our highly skilled refurbishment team, we can salvage a wide variety of components which go on to have a useful life, including:

• Motherboards
• Screens
• Keyboards
• Trackpads
• Top and bottom chassis lids
• Bezels
• Power jacks
• Chargers
• Rubber feet

In fact, we can preserve and redeploy most laptop parts with minimal environmental impact with our in-house workshop. We follow the waste hierarchy at every stage of the recycling process — prioritising reuse and refurbishment wherever possible before considering material recovery.

Protecting devices and the environment with sustainable packaging

Once we have refurbished the laptops and components, we need to ship them to our customers. We use state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly packaging materials – all of which is recyclable or biodegradable, and/or made from recycled content. We protect our laptops with Airsac technology, a recyclable packaging solution that reduces the volume of material required while providing superior protection.

Our mission: redefining e-waste recycling for a sustainable future

We founded Zero Tech Waste to address the world’s fastest-growing waste stream, e-waste, in the most environmentally responsible way possible. Not all recycling is created equal, and we are committed to doing it better.