CDW technology chief: Corporate sustainability starts with the individual

Tim Russell, chief technologist modern workspace at CDW, is pushing for change at an individual level to counter the alarming mountain of unwanted cheap tech that is pouring into landfill

No man (or woman) is an island. But when it comes to tech sustainability, that is exactly how people are operating. And it needs to stop.

In his report, entitled ‘Rucksacks and Relics: The Real Cost of Tech’, Russell canvassed several major IT players to see how they are tackling the problem of tech waste at an individual level, and the results revealed a disjointed and siloed approach to disposing of unwanted tech.

“We need to all be responsible,” said Russell.

“We have all been guilty of buying five cables for three pounds off Amazon because it is cheap and convenient, but what happens to that cable when you have finished with it and no longer have it?

“People need to start asking what is going to happen to their piece of tech once they have finished with it? It ultimately starts with them.”

The report also looks at how brands are embracing recycled materials and the circular economy, and delves into future trends such as emerging eco-materials, smarter accessories and evolving sustainable IT landscape.

“The companies I’ve spoken to for this report, who may have tech bars and vending machines for tech, just aren’t holding people to account enough.

These people are taking headsets, mice, cables etc. whenever they need them, using them, throwing them away and there is no accountability.

Every employee at an individual level needs to realise that they are responsible for that tech. They are at the heart and centre of this.

“But businesses also need to get behind this idea of individual responsibility,” Russell added.

“If they give an employee a piece of disposable tech – and this includes laptops – they need to be held to account, even if it is a cable, a headset, a mouse, a keyboard – whatever it may be.

Ultimately after about four years, you are going to dispose of it, but it is still a cost for the business and a cost to the planet.

If I can get businesses to realise that they have an onus of responsibility to asset manage with people at the end of the food chain, then that is a start, and if I can get one person a week to read this document and change how they think about the technology they use, then it will have been a success.”

Giving people a choice also helps encourage them to treat their tech better, says Russell.

“If you give your people a device that they like and matches their persona, they will have a little bit more affinity for that device and are more likely to look after it.

“We’ve seen this with company cars and with laptops. Why not with everything else? That way, the item gets a longer, better, more sustained lifecycle.”

But the conversation goes further than that, adds Jon Steggles, sustainability and social value manager at CDW.

It is an easy win for companies that want to start their sustainability journey but worry about the cost.

“It is the simple way of having an impact,” he explained.

“It will neither cost nor require anything but a small behavioural change.

Yet you can still reap the benefit from it. It can even save money and enhance brand reputation. Small incremental changes can collectively make all the difference.”

To read a copy of the report Rucksacks and Relics: The Real Cost of Tech – please click here.