Carbon Offset v3

Carbon Offset Reporting Principles and Working Methodology Statement for Procurri

Version 3  (May 2022)

Introduction

Emissions from the ICT sector projected for 2030 – calculated based on the assumption that ICT emissions are predicted to be approximately 2% of total emissions by that point. This is equivalent to 1.25 Gt CO₂e in 2030 or 1,250,000,000 tons of CO₂. So, whilst ICT may only represent 2%  of overall emissions, there is still a significant amount of CO₂ associated with it. This ties into the Procurri motto; everyone making a little effort rather than relying on a few to make a large one.

Carbon offsetting is an internationally recognized way to take responsibility for unavoidable carbon emissions generated in the normal course of business activities. For example, by selling legacy IT assets destined for re-use, this in turn means that somewhere someone will use a refurbished unit.

As part of Procurri’s IT Asset Disposition solution, we work to support and create sustainable solutions with and for our partners. Our Lifecycle management approach enables our customers to manage their end-of-life assets in a secure and environmentally responsible manner.

Procurri is able to offer enhanced value recovery rates to ensure client assets are reused wherever possible returning enhanced values but also minimizing recycling rates and as such maximizing carbon offset values.

Carbon offset is subjective. Procurri has provided research references and taken assumptions to provide best estimates of carbon offset values. These references and assumptions are contained in this report. Data is subject to change without prior notice based on updated research findings, government legislation, and market data becoming available.

Calculating carbon footprint is complex due to the evolving dynamics of products and supply chains.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in conjunction with HPE, HP Inc, Lenovo, Dell, AMD, and Cisco has created a ‘Product Attribute to Impact Algorithm’ (PAIA) in an attempt to assist with the calculation of carbon footprint.

See http://msl.mit.edu/projects/paia/main.html

Assumptions and Where Data Comes From

Complete Unit Working Methodology

Data surrounding laptop manufacture is more readily available with different manufacturers collating and reporting on the carbon footprint of their laptops. Numbers range from 250 – 400 Kg CO₂ in the production of a laptop. Procurri has based data on –

Examples are

• Lenovo T440s @ 394Kg CO₂
• Dell Latitude E7440 @ 276 Kg CO₂

If we standardize on these values, we can assume:

• A 1.5Kg laptop has a carbon footprint of 300Kg CO₂
• A laptop requires 1,200Kgs of the earth to be excavated to uncover minerals required to produce it

In the production of a laptop 190,000 liters of water are consumed.

Based on IT hardware being assembled of similar constituent parts we will apply the above three metrics on weight (per kg) basis when looking at CO₂ and carbon offset values for other IT hardware that is sold for re-use. Current reporting lines are:

Component part working methodology

When reviewing component parts we need a smaller start point than a laptop as our base start point. For individual component parts, we will use benchmark manufacturing CO₂ levels provided by cell phone providers. The manufacture of an average cell phone produces 55Kg of CO₂ (ref: Mobiles: the global carbon footprint – The Restart Project). The constituent parts of a cell phone are far more akin to those of the component parts found within memory, CPUs, SSD disks, etc. We will as with complete units base the CO₂ against weight. The average weight of a cell phone is deemed to be 175 grams, thus per 100 grams of weight represents a manufacturing CO₂ overhead of 31.42 Kg.

Steel Frames, Racks, Enclosures, and Chassis Working Methodology

All of the above primary components are steel. Steel is reported as a manufacturing CO₂ overhead of between 1.4 tons to 1.85 tons of CO₂ per ton of steel. (ref: What is the carbon footprint of steel? — Sustainable Ships – Beta (sustainable-ships.org)) . We shall use 1.6 tons of CO₂ per ton of steel in reporting metrics.

Refurbishing Overhead

Average processing overhead based on a weighted average of Procurri global processing facilities, processing in excess of 1 Million parts per year equates to 0.8453 Kg CO₂ per part processing.

Procurri achieved Carbon Neutral status across all our processing facilities in 2021, As such, the processing overhead can be regarded as net-zero, however, we have provided the above information as part of our working methodology.

Transport CO₂ Overhead

Transport CO₂ overhead varies wildly based on type of freight, air, sea, road, and the courier along with whether shipments are dedicated or group haulage.

According to the green ration book (ref: Carbon Dioxide from Freight Transport | The Green Ration Book)

Carbon Dioxide from Freight Transport

Average Kg of CO₂ produced for every tonne carried one kilometer.

Air 0.903
Road 0.147
Sea 0.18

Recycling Overhead

Whilst recycling will not enable a direct carbon offset for re-use of the item, if the product is recycled, and thus kept from landfill, there is an inherent benefit based on not mining for the raw materials to generate minerals required.

The report by Turner, Williams, and Kemp under ScienceDirect on ‘Greenhouse gas emission factors for recycling of source segregated waste materials’ suggests that aluminum has a -8143 Kg CO₂ per ton whereas generic scrap metal has -3577 Kg CO₂ per ton. Mixed Plastics offers -1084 Kg CO₂ per ton.

Similarly, according to the NIH (ref: Recycling of metals: accounting of greenhouse gases and global warming contributions – PubMed (nih.gov) )

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related to the recycling of metals in post-consumer waste are assessed from a waste management perspective; here the material recovery facility (MRF), for the sorting of the recovered metal. The GHG accounting includes indirect upstream emissions, direct activities at the MRF as well as indirect downstream activities in terms of reprocessing of the metal scrap and savings in terms of avoided production of virgin metal. The global warming factor (GWF) shows that upstream activities and the MRF cause negligible GHG emissions (12.8 to 52.6 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) recovered metal) compared to the reprocessing of the metal itself (360-1260 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) of recovered aluminum and 400- 1020 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(- 1) of recovered steel). The reprocessing is, however, counterbalanced by large savings of avoided virgin production of steel and aluminum. The net downstream savings were found to be 5040-19 340 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) of treated aluminum and 560-2360 kg CO(2)-equivalents tonne(-1) of treated steel. Due to the huge differences in reported data, it is hard to compare general data on the recovery of metal scrap as they are very dependent on the technology and data choices.

Furthermore, the energy used in both the recovery process as well as the avoided primary production is crucial. The range of avoided impacts shows that recovery of metals will always be beneficial over primary production, due to the high energy savings, and that the GHG emissions associated with the sorting of metals are negligible.

Given compute tends to be primarily manufactured from the above 3 core materials (steel, aluminum, and plastics) based on recycled weight we have a subjective call to make on what we should allocate per ton. We have taken an average of the Turner, Williams & Kemp study providing a recycled CO₂ saving of 4268 per ton in comparison to virgin mining for new minerals.

CO₂ overhead of physical recycling per ton we will take an average from the NHI report of 32.7Kg of CO₂ per ton.

Comparisons

Visualizing carbon offset is awkward. By way of comparison to visualize what a Kg of CO₂  looks like, an average family car that travels 15,000 km a year produces 1830Kg CO₂ (https://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/average-CO₂-emissions-from-new)

If we work on the basis that producing a 1.5Kg IT asset consumes

CO₂ for new laptop = 300 Kg
190,000 liters of water
1,200 tons of earth excavated

Refurbishment CO₂ cost = (4) kg

On an estate of 1,000 units if refurbished and resold based on the assumption that they have displaced the need for a new unit would provide a CO₂ saving of 296,000 Kg (296 Tons ) of CO₂ – or the equivalent of

162 cars’ emissions for a year

Saving 190 million liters of water and 1.2M tons of earth

Minerals Used in Manufacturing IT Hardware

Some or all of the below 66 minerals are consumed in the manufacturing of IT devices

Reporting On Your Assets

Procurri will provide a CO₂ report based on the above working methodology detailing each IT Asset we process for our customers per the below.

Each report details the quantity and genre of assets, along with the carbon saving associated with Procurri processing the devices; preventing the need for new equivalents to be manufactured, in preference to the devices being scrapped to landfill.

Similarly, we will also collate the tons redirected from landfill, the reduction in the excavation of virgin minerals to rebuild the asset, and associated water consumption. Finally. we will provide a comparison of the distance an average family car could travel for the same CO₂.

Our Promise

Procurri is a trusted partner by our customers and is committed to reuse over recycle. Where goods have no material value or use, we will always recycle on a ZERO landfill basis. Procurri’s expertise and Lifecycle proposition help maximize reuse whilst ensuring the utmost attention to detail in secure data removal whilst achieving strong financial returns for our customers. We work with our customers and partners to help deliver sustainable recovery solutions globally.