From an Environmental Viewpoint Large ICT Networks Infrastructure Equipment must not be Reused

Abstract

Circular strategies must and will vary for different product groups. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) will help show which is the best strategy in any given situation as not all Circular Economy initiatives lead to universal sustainability benefits. There is a misunderstanding that lifetime extension via remanufacturing and refurbishment is ecologically effective for Business’, ’to’, ’Business ICT goods like ICT network infrastructure (ICTNI) products. This is shown herein by typical relations between manufacturing and the use of environmental impact for ICTNI products as a function of the energy efficiency and lifetime of the product at hand and the next corresponding product model. Full LCA would come to the same conclusion, as the ratio between the use stage and the production stage will not change dramatically. To avoid doing very significant harm to the environment, older than 5 years ICTNI products must not be reused. The reasons are that the energy efficiency improvement rate of the following generation of most ICTNI products is constant, the lifetime is usually more than 10 years and the share of manufacturing environmental impact will be relatively low even when low environmental impact electric power is used for the operation.