TCO Development, the organisation behind the sustainability certification TCO Certified, has released a campaign video to highlight the environmental impact of information technology (IT) products
The video, This is IT, highlights the issues around electronic waste (e-waste) and demonstrates how a circular approach to IT products is vital to a more sustainable world.
The recent studies by the UN and the World Economic Forum have concluded that the current annual global volume of electronic waste is around 50mn tonnes.
Of the 50mn e-waste, only 20 per cent is recycled, which leads to an annual loss of natural resources of US$62bn. To reduce the impact on people and the environment, a new generation of TCO Certified, global sustainability certification for IT products has been launched.
TCO Certified, generation eight focuses on circularity and requires that products are durable, repairable and upgradeable so that they can live longer and be reused.
Materials must be recyclable and can be used in the manufacturing of new products instead of being incinerated, placed in landfill sites or exported to developing countries where they are handled in an unsafe manner, damaging human health and ecosystems, it added.
Clare Hobby, director of purchaser engagement, Global at TCO Development, the organisation behind TCO Certified, commented, “The new generation of TCO Certified is our largest step yet toward circular and sustainable IT products.”
“Through the video, we want to help people better understand the problem of linear ‘take, make, dispose’ thinking around IT products and its effects like e-waste, pollution and climate change. Most importantly, we want to inspire action and talk about how we all need to contribute to solving these problems”, he concluded.
The two-minute video draws attention to the critical environmental and social issues and urges all stakeholders to do their part in driving positive change.
