Understanding digital technology differently
The tech sector is one of the most resource-intensive on the planet. It’s also one of the least understood. This page is a starting point.
You’ve been told that digital technology is immaterial. That’s false.
Every email, every device, every software update relies on a very physical infrastructure: mines, factories, undersea cables, data centres that need constant cooling. Digital technology has a footprint. It’s massive. And it begins well before you press the power button.
In 2022, the world generated 62 million tonnes of electronic waste, an 82% increase since 2010, and that figure is expected to reach 82 million tonnes by 2030. This isn’t just old phones forgotten in a drawer. These are resources that were extracted, processed, transported, assembled, and discarded.
Less than a quarter of this waste (22.3%) was properly collected and recycled in 2022. The rest ends up in landfills, in informal recovery systems, or is simply lost.
The good news: this isn’t inevitable. It’s a design problem, and the circular economy offers a structured response.
What exactly is the circular economy?
The dominant economic model is linear: extract, manufacture, consume, discard. The circular economy proposes a way out by closing the loops: repairing what can be repaired, reusing what still works, and recycling only what can no longer serve a purpose.
Applied to the tech sector, this logic changes everything. It challenges the idea that a 4-year-old computer is “old,” that replacing is always better than repairing, or that recycling is the most responsible action one can take.
80% of a digital device’s environmental impact occurs during manufacturing—not during use. That figure alone should transform how we make our purchasing and replacement decisions.
Source: The Circular Economy – Institut National de l’Économie Circulaire
Five questions to think differently
This section is organized around five themes. Each can be read independently, in whatever order suits you.
1 — The life cycle of a device
From mineral extraction to landfill, what a computer actually contains and why every phase matters. Essential reading to understand where digital technology’s real footprint comes from.
→ Read the resource
2 — The 4Rs hierarchy: reduce, reuse, recycle, recover, eliminate
The order of these words isn’t arbitrary—yet we almost always reverse it. Understand why reducing takes priority over everything else, and why recycling comes last.
→ Read the resource
3 — Planned obsolescence
Myth or reality? Documented mechanisms, concrete examples, existing recourse. A critical read, without the pamphleteering.
→ Read the resource
4 — The carbon footprint of digital technology
Manufacturing accounts for roughly 80% of a device’s carbon footprint, while use accounts for barely 15%. What this means for the choices made by organizations and individuals alike, with sources.
→ Read the resource
5 — The circular economy applied to the IT sector
Principles, models, players, regulatory challenges. How an entire sector can shift its logic—and what’s still holding back that transition.
→ Read the resource
A resource, not a lecture
The content of this section isn’t meant to convince you to adopt any particular behaviour. It’s meant to give you the tools to understand a complex sector and make your own informed decisions—whether you’re an individual, a manager, a purchasing officer, or a decision-maker.
Main sources for this section: Global E-Waste Monitor 2024 (UN / UNITAR / ITU) · ADEME-Arcep, Environmental Footprint of Digital Technology (2022) · ADEME, Environmental Impact Assessment of Refurbished Products (2022)
