If there’s one thing this week’s E-Scrap Conference attendees should take away from New Orleans, it’s the realization of the opportunity in the market, according to the event’s keynote speaker.
Stefan Larsen, global lead of sustainability solutions and services at Lenovo, addressed the potential to capitalize from a business and a sustainability standpoint during the opening presentation Monday.
The industry is poised for tremendous growth through the rest of this decade, he said. E-scrap generation globally is expected to surge from 62 million metric tons per year now to 82 million metric tons by 2030, according to the UN Global e-Waste Monitor, meaning a wealth of second-hand devices will make their way to the marketplace.
Only around 22% of that material is formally recycled, he said, so companies that can capture more of that material for recycling or reuse can capitalize. They can do so financially, he said, while also boosting their messaging around sustainability.
“There is a great opportunity in this area to offer solutions, products with a lower cost and a better CO₂ number,” Larsen said.
That’s important because of the increased push for more sustainable practices, both within company C-suites and legislative offices. Larsen said he’s heard from many customers that want their companies to act more sustainably, with measures such as setting net-zero goals and cutting Scope 3 emissions, while government regulations in many places now or soon will require it — France, for example, requires public entities to acquire at least 20% of their tech from second-hand sources.
“Sustainability has gone from something you can get investment for from time to time, to a firm commitment from customers,” Larsen said.
Companies should be ready to return those commitments to enhance the customer experience as a way to encourage material return, Larsen said. Lenovo, which puts a device into the marketplace an average of every three seconds, does so through its pledge to climate targets in conjunction with the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Those goals include reducing Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030, and reducing all emissions by 90% by 2050.
Companies can achieve such targets by incorporating sustainability into their products and operations, he said. In Lenovo’s case, Larsen said that means designing repairability into laptops via swappable batteries and modular ports. Plastic-free packaging, sugar cane packing fibers and reusable boxes can further that effort.
“If you design for sustainability, the likelihood of reuse is that much higher,” he said. “We’re innovating new tools for our customers … we don’t decide for the customer, but we give them the option.”
Increasingly sophisticated customers are looking for solutions that can be tailored to them, which means e-scrap and ITAD companies need to build flexibility into their operations to meet this demand. Lenovo’s lifecycle management, asset recovery and refurbishment operations are an example of this, Larsen said, working with any customer’s budget or hardware needs. That includes directing devices toward a viable second life and evaluating whether companies can get by with used devices, which he said is the case more often than many realize.
That’s yielded results that Larsen said could be replicated by companies making a similar commitment. Lenovo’s asset recovery operation, for example, recovered 29,000 metric tons of electronics for recycling or reuse in 2024 alone. That number is expected to grow at Lenovo and industrywide, he said, as more established customers get more accustomed to thinking about second-hand devices — and as younger people start to take control of companies within the industry.
“There’s more demand coming for refurbished units,” he said. “The young generation is much more open toward sustainability. They’re much more engaged in it, and they want to make a difference.”
Whether it’s in helping companies spend less on replacement equipment or extend the life of devices already in hand, Larsen said companies that help their customers save money will be well-positioned to cash in.
“We know the price of new hardware is going to grow for the next couple years, if not more,” he said. “Customers also have budget pressure. This is a perfect solution that’s fit for that.”
