Microsoft has set some environmentally driving goals for itself, and it plans to make them achievable over the next 10 years. In addition to reaching carbon negative status by 2030, the company has said that it also aims to have zero waste operations and packaging all in the same year. It has listed the steps it intends to take to achieve them, including the construction of Circular Centers at its data centers providing Azure and Microsoft 365 services.
The company handled a Circular Center in Amsterdam, and from that testing result, it expects facilities to expand the use of its servers and components by up to 90% come 2025. It will create the recycling facilities in its new major data center campuses first before including them to already made ones.
Although, this process will only address the waste coming out of Microsoft’s office. That is to say, the waste of its product build-up is a much greater issue. Some observers have been urging Microsoft and other huge tech companies to design their products for more durable use and to collect the devices they sell for reuse and recycling. Microsoft also received criticism going against “right to repair” laws that would drive compel tech companies to make their products easier and cheaper to fix.
“We are committed to increasing the repairability of our products and providing consumers with access to convenient, effective, and safe repair services. The proposed legislation will undermine innovation, competition, and consumer protections, including exposure to safety, security, and privacy risks,” a spokesman from Microsoft explained to GeekWire in an email.
Apart from building Circular Centers, Microsoft has vowed to stop using single-use plastics for the packaging of all its products and IT assets by 2025. By doing so, it hopes to stop contributing to our growing plastic waste problem. “Approximately 300 million metric tons of plastic are produced every year, 50 percent of which is used one time. Microsoft is also making a $30 million investment with Closed Loop Partners, a venture capital firm known for investing in sustainable consumer goods and advanced recycling technologies.
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