Gütersloh, 03/22/2022

Arvato Systems And Corporate Center Support Refurbishing Of IT And Mobile Devices

Arvato Systems and the Corporate Center have been supporting the refurbishing of IT and mobile devices for several years. For this purpose, they have been working with the nonprofit IT company AfB and making an important contribution to the protection of the environment as well as inclusion at the workplace.

For several years, Arvato Systems and Bertelsmann’s Corporate Center have been sending used IT and mobile devices to the nonprofit IT company AfB, where they are refurbished and resold. As Europe’s biggest nonprofit IT company, AfB gGmbH is specialized in the lifecycle extension of used IT and mobile devices. Therefore, Arvato Systems and the Corporate Center are making an important contribution to the protection of the environment as well as inclusion at the workplace with this cooperation: almost half of the around 500 employees in five countries are people with disabilities. Hence the company’s name: AfB stands for “Arbeit für Menschen mit Behinderung” (Work for People with Disabilities).

Refurbishing and recycling

In terms of sustainability, using IT devices for the longest possible time is always the best option since the exploitation of raw materials and production of IT hardware always has an ecological and social impact. For this reason, the two Bertelsmann units rely on the partnership with AfB. If hardware can no longer be used in the company, it is given to AfB, where it undergoes a certified deletion process and is refurbished and resold, if possible. In cases where refurbishment is not feasible – for example, in the event that the hardware is defective or too old – it is dismantled into individual components for spare part recycling or sent to certified recycling firms.

As a “certificate” from AfB testifies, from January 1 through December 31, 2021, the partnership with Arvato Systems resulted in saving 62,032 kilograms of CO₂ equivalents, 245,665 kilowatt hours of energy, and 30,603 kilograms of iron equivalents; water consumption was reduced by 419,344 liters according to the calculation. The results for the Corporate Center were 50,459 kilograms of CO₂ equivalents, 193,262 kilowatt hours of energy, 27,706 kilograms of iron equivalents, and 365,924 liters of water. Of all devices forwarded to AfB, 57 percent (Arvato Systems) and 76 percent (Corporate Center) were refurbished; the remaining devices, equaling 43 percent (Arvato Systems) and 24 percent (Corporate Center), were recycled.