DCW February 2019 by Robbert Hoeffnagel, Green IT Amsterdam
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At present, only 10 percent of the critical raw materials' used in data centres are being recovered. If we want to further reduce the impact of data centres on the environment, the percentage of devices and materials that are reused or recycled will have to be drastically increased. That is why a group of companies, universities and other parties - including Green IT Amsterdam - is launching a research project which will facilitate the implementation of circular economy for data centre industry under the name 'CEDaCI'. This project involves organisations from the four most important data centre countries in Europe: the Netherlands, Germany, France and the United Kingdom.

"North West Europe - and particularly the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands - is the EU's data centre hotspot," says Julie Chenadec, project manager at Green IT Amsterdam."

Servers and other hardware in data centres often have a Replacement term of 1 to 5 years, contributing substantially to the production of 11.8 megatons of WEEE (Waste Electrical & Electronic Equipment), making WEEE one of the fastest growing waste streams in the European Union. " Read more