Too good to throw away
© gettyimages – Westend61
They still work fine. But they are nonetheless decommissioned and sent away by the truck load – in sealed containers. At regular intervals, AfB (‘Work for People with Disabilities’) collects monitors, laptops, mobile phones and printers from Drees & Sommer.
That’s because in order to stay ahead of the digitization curve and optimize work processes, we constantly renew our hardware. In most cases, the decommissioned equipment is still fully functional and finds a new a new social and ecological use through our partnership with AfB. The company picks up the IT equipment and mobile phones, refurbishes and resells them.
The cooperation with AfB is a step on our way to becoming a Beneficial Company. As a Beneficial Company, we give more back to the environment than we consume from it and also make lasting positive contributions to the environment and society. Since 2019 we have been working with the non-profit company. Many Dreso employees have since acquired decommissioned work equipment for private use. In 2020, AfB again collected many used company laptops, -PCs and -smartphones: 1679 pieces!
The certificate digitally provided to Drees & Sommer by the non-profit company AfB confirms the socio-ecological added value of the partnership: Of the 1679 IT devices that were picked up by AfB last year, more than 71 % could be re-marketed. And in the case of the computers, the reuse rate was even 98 %.
"Digital" presentation of the certificate: Tobias Funke from Drees & Sommer (on the left) and Tobias Negwer from AfB (on the right)
(C) Drees & Sommer
(C) Drees & Sommer
Socio-ecological added value
Specifically, 390,327 kWh of energy, 983,425 l of water and 113,986 kg CO2 equivalents were saved. The latter corresponds with about 54 flights from New York to Berlin and back. In addition, it ensures the workplace of a handicapped person. Because the refurbishing process is performed by about 500 AfB employees, 45 % or whom are handicapped.
Tobias Funke from the IT purchasing department is delighted with the successful cooperation: “The numbers speak for themselves. Refurbishing and recycling allow us to protect the climate, environment and resources, and sustainably support a company like AfB.”
Reuse of legacy equipment
It doesn’t always have to be the latest laptop or mobile: Dreso colleagues can buy back their decommissioned company devices cheaply through AfB and continue to use them as personal devices, thus also making a contribution to refurbishing and reuse.
AfB won the German Sustainability Award 2021 and the Inclusion Award 2020 for this extraordinary business model, which successfully combines ecological and social sustainability.
