[Infographic] Data Erasure’s Role in the Circular Economy

Apr 10, 2025 Best Practice
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Used enterprise assets—computers, servers, hard drives, mobile phones. and more—make up a substantial portion of the millions of tons of e-waste produced globally every year.

Unfortunately, much of this enterprise e-waste is discarded improperly, putting both the environment and sensitive data at risk. This is despite the increase in corporate social responsibility initiatives and the availability of non-destructive data sanitization methods that allow assets to be redeployed or made available for resale or donation.

That means many organizations miss the opportunity to get more value out of their IT investment by sanitizing and reusing their technology assets. Instead, enterprises often resort to premature physical destruction of perfectly usable data storage devices.

Organizations that understand data erasure’s role in the circular economy can confidently balance data security and environmental impact. Securely erasing enterprise e-waste ensures that all sensitive data has been removed from data storage media (loose drives, PCs, servers, mobile phones, and more), opening the door for reuse, recycling, resale, donation or lease return.

Take a look at “Data Erasure’s Role in the Circular Economy,” to see how erasing data can remove risk, support your enterprise CSR policies, and increase your ROI.

Data Erasure’s Role in the Circular Economy: Shifting end-of-life IT from hazardous disposal to secure reuse

Increased digitization and a slower rate of formal recycling are fueling global e-waste growth. According to the UN Global E-waste Monitor, 62 million metric tons of e-waste was created in 2022. Of this, less than one quarter (22.3%) was documented as having been properly collected and recycled. Much of the rest goes to landfills, is burned, or is illegally traded and improperly treated. By 2030, the world is on track to generate a staggering 82 million tons of e-waste.

The UN estimates that approximately 18% of e-waste is made up of computers, screens, smartphones, tablets, TVs, and other such devices. But a Blancco-commissioned survey of nearly 2,000 of the world’s largest enterprises revealed that less than 25% of global enterprise end-of-life IT—mobile devices, laptops and desktops, servers, loose drives, and more—is recycled.

Based on data from international organizations and independent research by Coleman Parkes on behalf of Blancco, our circular economy infographic illustrates the drawbacks of discarding usable devices. It also explores a secure alternative to hazardous e-waste disposal and the physical destruction of IT assets—an alternative that enables organizations to enhance their CSR policies by fueling the circular economy.

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