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Editorial

"Digital technology is now at the heart of our society. At a time of increasing digitalization - often uncontrolled - of business activities, the issues of digital pollution and overconsumption have become critical.

Indeed, the growth of our information systems is unsustainable, and digital technology has worrying environmental impacts¹. Nevertheless, it remains a formidable tool and a major challenge for the ecological transition, whose resilience and sustainability must be guaranteed.

Structuring a responsible digital approach within companies, both at the organizational and individual level, is essential to be up to the task. Rzilient exists precisely to promote a positive digital impact and to put responsible and circular practices at the center of the digital approach of companies.

To this end, we have drawn up a Digital Ecogestures Charter, prioritized according to the impact of the recommended actions, so that each stakeholder can contribute at his or her own level to the sustainable IT policy of their organization.

After awareness, action, all together, at our scale 💪"

Audren Letellier

CSR Manager at Rzilient¹

¹The Digital World in Europe, GreenIT.fr, 2021

Five key actions to adopt to limit your digital impact at work

1. Know and understand the issues of digital pollution

• Identify the reference sources: Institut du Numérique Responsable, Ademe, GreenIT.fr, Label Numérique Responsable...
• Avoid overconsumption and define your iT and digital needs as precisely as possible
• Check the regulations in force concerning the management of your iT fleet or your WEEE*.

💡 Good to know:

In Europe, the most important impact is not related to the use of the device (44%), but to its manufacture (54%).

Source: GreeniT, Digital in Europe: a life cycle assessment approach to environmental impacts (NumEU)

*WEEE: Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment

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2. Reduce the rate of equipment

• Prefer leasing your equipment rather than purchasing, and reinject it into the digital circularisation at the end of the leasing period
• Don't give in to the psychological or cultural obsolescence that pushes us to change a product that is still in good working order for a similar, more recent one
• Choose multifunctional equipment and share it with your friends, family and colleagues

💡 Good to know:

The environmental impact of digital technology in France does not necessarily come from where we think:

🖥 Terminals (and in particular screens and televisions) generate the bulk of the environmental impacts (from 65 to 92%)...

💾 ...followed by data centers (from 4 to 20%)...

⛓ ... then networks (from 4 to 13%).¹

In France in 2020, each user had an average of 11 devices (including connected objects).

¹ Ademe-Arcep study, The environmental footprint of digital technology in France, 2022

² Green IT, Environmental impacts of digital technology in France, 2020

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3. Extend the life of the devices

• Adopt reconditioned equipment, for rent or purchase
• Buy or rent eco-designed, upgradeable and repairable equipment
• Repair and maintain your iT equipment
• Optimize the management of your iT assets: reuse hardware internally, centralize iT processes, simplify access to iT support for your employees

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4. Adopt sober uses

• Store your data locally on a hard drive rather than in the cloud
• Use the Tiny Suspender extension to regulate the activity of your pages
• Delete your obsolete data regularly
• Choose wired connection over wifi or 4G or 5G
• Unplug your devices when they are charged and turn them off when they are in deep sleep

Good to know 💡:

Going from 2 to 4 years of use for a tablet or a computer improves its environmental balance by 50%.

The manufacturing of a 2 kg computer is :

➤ 588 kg of raw materials mobilized

➤ 156 kg of CO2 generated, out of the 169 kg emitted over its entire life cycle

Source: Ademe, Eco-responsible at work, Effective actions and good resolutions, 2020

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4. Collecting WEEE

• Have your unused iT equipment taken back by professionals
• Donate your equipment to a reuse actor, or deposit it in an adapted container to optimize recycling
• Recycle your computer equipment if it cannot be reused, repurposed or reconditioned

💡 Good to know:

The production of WEEE in the world is almost 60 million tons by 2021. A figure that continues to grow, and will reach 75 million by 2030 as things stand today.¹

17% of WEEE worldwide is collected for recycling (the rest is incinerated, buried or goes through illegal channels).²

Less than 20% of a smartphone is recyclable.³

¹ WEE, What countries are doing to tackle e-waste, 2022

² Global E-waste Monitor 2020

³ Insee, The economy and society in the digital age, 2019

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In a nutshell

The most environmentally friendly device is the one that has not been manufactured.

For purchase (or lease)

Ask yourself what your needs are and take a more sober approach when choosing your computer equipment.

In use

Streamline your needs, extend the life of existing equipment and use it responsibly and sparingly.

At the end of life

Systematically collect your WEEE so that it can be cleaned up and recycled as much as possible

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Need a new generation iT partner?

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