End of life
From Wiki for Sustainable IT
End of life is the stage at which a piece of equipment is no longer used by its owner.
It does not mean the end of possible use. Discarded equipment is very often still functional: what ends is its use by one particular owner, not its capacity to serve.
Hierarchy of treatments
- Reuse and refurbishment: the only route that actually avoids manufacturing a new device
- Repair: replacing a component extends the useful life
- Component recovery for repairing other equipment
- Material recycling, with substantial losses
- Energy recovery
- Landfill, a definitive loss of material
Specific to digital equipment
Secure data erasure determines whether reuse is possible at all. Without a reliable procedure, organisations destroy working equipment as a precaution.
