The Green SIDE of Blancco

As our ESG Report notes, we value sustainability within our staff, as part of our internal business practices, and in support of the circular economy. We’re also very pleased to have achieved carbon neutrality for calendar year 2021. These actions attest to our commitment to sound environmental stewardship. They also support our customers’ own ESG goals.

However, being a sustainable company along the data management and mobile supply chain only tells part of the story.

4 Important Ways We Support Sustainable Technology Use 

Creating new assets to support our IT-driven society places a significant burden on natural resources. When new devices become old, device disposal compounds the environmental impact while raising questions about end-of-life data protection.  

We are proud to offer solutions that reinforce the immense data security and efficiency requirements of our customers while minimizing harm to the environment and people’s wellbeing.

Here are four ways we support sustainable technology use: 

Secure Device Reuse

IT Asset Circularity

Diminished ROT

E-waste Reduction

Secure Device Reuse

We protect businesses while extending the life of functional technology.

With cybercrime a constant threat, many organizations physically destroy decommissioned IT hardware for security purposes. But this type of disposal often takes perfectly usable devices out of circulation, sending millions of tons of material to the landfill. Often, improper physical destruction practices leave data accessible, putting organizations at risk. 

By completely and permanently erasing data from functional devices, we extend their usable life while ensuring data cannot be accessed. This allows safe and secure device redeployment and reuse.  

IT Asset Circularity

We slow the need for new device creation.

Our solutions support a booming secondary device market, fostering a more circular use of IT. We give organizations confidence to donate IT assets, equip ITADs to recapture more equipment for resale, and enable consumers to trade in smartphones and tablets when upgrading. That makes more devices available for reuse, meaning fewer assets must be created from scratch.  

Diminished ROT

We lessen data storage needs—and related emissions.

Much stored data is redundant, obsolete, or trivial (ROT). Even more is “dark.” This surplus data increases breach liability and raises operational and cooling system needs to securely store it. Eradicating data at scale from decommissioned assets or from within live environments reduces business costs and the energy used to store no-longer-needed data. 

E-waste Reduction

We minimize landfill-bound electronics—and their detrimental impact to developing regions.

Despite international regulations, tons of technological trash are shipped to developing countries each year, leading to component harvesting that harms both people and the surrounding landscape. The more we help organizations adopt sustainable, circular business models, the greater the dent we make in dangerous end-of-life disposal practices.  

Where We Go from Here

Based on customer usage data, Blancco securely sanitized an estimated 68.2 million kilograms of electronic equipment, with a pre-use carbon footprint of 5.6 billion kilograms, in FY21.  

We’ve also invested in two renewable wind energy projects in India. These projects help reduce carbon emissions and our own carbon footprint. They also create jobs and contribute to local infrastructure development.

Yet we understand that our job isn’t complete.  

New data storage technologies and data needs will continue to expand, particularly as the internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) grow in adoption. For our part, we will continue to set internal decarbonization targets. We’ll also advance our green “SIDE” across an ever-growing number of devices, empowering organizations to reinforce their security posture, ensure compliance with data privacy requirements, and improve environmental stewardship. 

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