Since the introduction of modern computing during the Second World War and the arrival of the World Wide Web in 1989, over 62 percent of the global population has become connected by digital technology. The unprecedented rate of growth and focus on uninterrupted service provision means that the sector has evolved along a linear - take, make, use, dispose – economic model, where there has been no consideration of what happens to products at end of life. This is unsustainable and we need to change current practice and develop a system that conserves and reuses these resources – i.e. we need to move from a linear to a circular economy where products and materials are used for as long as technically and economically viable and at end-of-life they are recycled.

Prof Deborah Andrews, CEDaCI Lead has written an article, 'Designing the circular economy' for DCD. Read more here