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Schneider Electric shares French lessons with the UK
Power specialist shares progress made in circular efforts on the continent, and will bring them to this side of the channel
Schneider Electric is rolling out a circular initiative it has been running in France to improve the sustainability it can provide around its smart uninterruptible power supplies (UPS).
The power specialist has been running its reduce, reuse and recycle programme in France this year, in partnership with Ingram Micro, and is now looking to roll out a similar offering in the UK and Ireland, plus Italy, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany.
Under the scheme, the vendor is taking back products, recycling and reusing hardware to provide upgraded options to customers keen to reduce emissions.
“When we first set out to establish our circular UPS offer, our ambition was to ensure that there was no compromise on the efficiency, resilience and the sustainability of our industrial processes, and to create sustainable solutions that deliver the same level of quality and reliability our customers expect,” said Geoffrey Richard, Schneider Electric’s circular economy director for France.
“Through these new UPSes, our partners can meet customer demands for sustainable solutions safe in the knowledge that they are making a significant contribution to environmental sustainability, and that their customers will benefit from the same warranty as standard Schneider Electric Smart-UPS models,” he added.
Richard said the vendor was working to make sure it had the products in the first place that were greener and then could support that with more recycling and reuse policies.
“The dual strategy we put in place at Schneider Electric is to make sure we can go on with our partner in the decarbonisation way,” he said. “So, the first one is the sustainability policy. The second one is circular strategy, which are really linked to shed some additional life.”
Increasing pressure
He warned that ignoring the problem was not a long-term option, and even those that were not necessarily taking action would face increasing pressure from governments keen to push more anti e-waste legislation.
Rachel Brindley, senior director of the channels group at Canalys, spelt out the challenges that were being faced by the industry.
“We have a huge problem with e-waste in the technology industry,” she said. “It’s a problem that we have to address. It’s up 82% since 2010 and only increasing. It’s being produced five times quicker than e-waste has been recycled or devices have been taken back, and we’re increasingly filling more and more landfill.”
Brindley added that the waste of minerals was also adding to the problems when devices were consigned to landfill. “Cost of waste is huge, and it is increasingly an environmental challenge that the IT industry is facing and will continue to face, unless we do something to stem this as well,” she said.
Brindley said that partners and vendors were taking strides and regulations were coming from governments that added to the pressure to tackle e-waste. “Customers are also expecting their partners and their vendors to be able to support circularity as well as supporting them with their scope three emissions broader sustainability goals,” she added.
Brindley also said partners had been taking back repair services when applicable, but there was a need for a coordinated vendor-driven approach to circular approaches.
“Devising the service is certainly a business model which a lot of the vendor community should be doing more to drive, because they own that device, and they can take it back at the end of that service,” she said. “Refurbishing, resale, that’s also becoming a more important driver for a lot of partners.”
