Why green IT is the only choice The most environmentally friendly product is the one which was never manufactured

Raw materials for IT equipment are frequently acquired in conflict zones. Trading in minerals exacerbates the situation in the country and also helps finance armed groups – for example, in the Congo, where raw materials such as tin are mined.

There are frequent reports that workers’ rights are not respected in IT manufacturing. Some of the main issues are payment below the living wage and working hours of more than 60 hours a week. For example, Foxconn, the Chinese supplier which assembles the iPhone for Apple, is a frequent subject of criticism.

A mobile phone weighing just 80 g will consume 75 kg of natural resources over its entire lifetime. This quantity of resources is known as the ecological rucksack. The manufacture of a smartphone consumes approximately 8 kg, and its use more than 31 kg. 35 kg is consumed in the acquisition of the metal raw materials, for example, the copper in cables and circuit boards.

The water footprint shows how much water is used or polluted for an IT device – including both direct and indirect water use. Manufacturing a PC requires 20,000 litres of water, of which around 4,000 litres are due to the circuit board. A smartphone consumes around 900 litres. Most of this water is needed for mining and processing metals such as copper and lithium.

Most resources are consumed during production and transport of the hardware. Many devices face a journey halfway round the world from their factory in Asia. For an average business router or switch, 60-65 % of the water used and carbon dioxide emitted is needed just for its manufacture and shipping to Europe or the USA.

Often, after recycling, materials such as aluminium no longer have their original quality and purity – this is known as downcycling. But recovering these inferior materials still needs a lot of energy and additional resources, so that – economically and environmentally – recycling is almost not worth it.

Recycling metals and rare earths back into pure products is a lot of work, and is sometimes not even possible. This is because the recycling process for these materials is neither efficient nor mature.

To access the treasure within, the plastic housings of the circuit boards and cables have to be melted. This releases toxic and carcinogenic gases, which are extremely harmful for people and the environment.