Sviat Dulianinov is the Chief Strategy Officer of Bright Machines.
When disruptive innovations like generative AI come along, entire industries are left scampering to keep up. For the large tech companies building the AI “backbone” to support the myriad cloud-based applications on the horizon, the race is on.
However, the innovation driving these infrastructure upgrades is coming at a huge cost to the environment as older data center hardware is phased out every two to five years. When that time comes, data centers have two options: scrap the old equipment or go out of their way to find a recycling solution.
Data centers contribute to the 50 million tons of electronic and electrical waste (e-waste) produced worldwide every year, but only 20% is recycled. That puts millions of servers and related equipment directly into landfills where they can leach lead, mercury and cadmium.
With a single facility potentially decommissioning thousands of servers annually, the need for a solution is urgent. The most compelling option we have found for companies running large data centers is the circular manufacturing process that reuses and recycles high-value server components such as CPUs and memory modules through disassembly, so they don’t go straight to waste.
The circularity model describes how these recycled materials are used to produce new servers. Companies like Microsoft, AWS and Iron Mountain are already implementing their own circular recycling systems to better manage the end-of-life of servers and data center equipment. However, recycling old server components must become the standard industry-wide. The need for this approach will only grow as bottlenecks affect server production at a time of rapidly growing demand for AI infrastructure.
Server Production By The Numbers
Around 15 million servers are expected to be shipped this year globally, with demand for AI servers accounting for 12.1% of those units. In fact, this category is expanding so quickly that Foxconn estimates sales of AI servers will hit $150 billion by 2027. This means that as the production line of new servers ramps up, more and more old servers will be retired every year—and the need for recycling solutions will only grow more pressing.
While companies are turning to the speed, precision and consistency of robotics to hit production requirements, these numbers are also showing the massive opportunity for automated disassembly. A survey by Statista found that in practice, servers are replaced frequently, with 42% of data center managers and IT staff reporting they were turning over their servers every two to three years.
The solution lies in leveraging the same technology used for automated assembly because it can also be applied to disassembly. To effectively recycle server components, tech companies should evaluate the feasibility of integrating software-driven disassembly into their operations or determine whether or not to outsource this approach. Whatever route they choose, it will help reduce the immense amount of waste produced by the server industry every year.
Why Manual Recycling Doesn’t Work
At the moment, there is no standardized recycling solution for e-waste. Existing programs rely on manual disassembly, which is inefficient and poses major safety risks to the people involved. From live electrical currents to direct contact with chemicals, it’s a hazardous job that can’t be performed without specialty gear and months of training. Even then, these programs don’t often have a 100% success rate.
Due to the delicate nature of electronics, there is a high potential for accidental damage and human error. As a result, manual disassembly fails to recover all usable components. These complications help explain why less than 30% of the IT hardware in data centers is being recycled each year, but convenience doesn’t justify the harm caused to the environment. Apart from e-waste ending up in landfills, precious metals and other valuable materials are lost when servers are not broken down.
Tech giants like Microsoft are already accelerating toward their goal of zero waste through dedicated circular centers that decommission servers and hardware components. AWS sends its functional retired server racks and components to reverse logistics hubs, where they are demanufactured and components are repaired for reuse in data centers.
One key way of reducing an organization’s data center waste footprint is employing automation and turning to software-driven disassembly lines that can inspect parts and safely disassemble delicate components, instead of relying on manual labor.
The Strengths Of Software-Driven Disassembly
Compared to manual labor, automated robotic lines can disassemble faster and more precisely than humans can, enabling recycling programs to scale to meet the tens of millions of servers decommissioned each year. By leveraging sensors and software, these lines extract maximum value from end-of-life servers through their ability to inspect parts and track part-and-process history, intelligently directing components for reuse, recycling or upcycling. This smart automation also plays a critical role in meeting security standards.
Servers processed through manual disassembly may still contain sensitive data on hard drives and memory chips if not properly wiped. But automated lines can trace components throughout all stages of disassembly, ensuring increased security measures for protecting data. The value-add of increased security further incentivizes a recycling solution for decommissioned equipment.
Automated server recycling also unlocks data that can help inform better design decisions in the future. Plus, analytics collected from thousands of servers can determine which components last the longest and where failures were most common. Together, these possibilities can inform continuous improvement at the production level, extending lifecycles and supporting a circular manufacturing process.
Making A Lasting Impact
Providers of automation solutions are helping to reduce how much hazardous e-waste ends up in landfills while paving a path forward for an industry long plagued by waste and bottlenecks. By automating the disassembly of decommissioned servers, valuable materials can be reused rather than going to waste.
Extending the lifespan of components through refurbishment or recycling is a more circular approach that results in better outcomes for the environment and companies’ bottom line. This doesn’t just offer new life to server parts, but it also enables the big tech players to meet their sustainability goals at a time of ever-growing demand for infrastructure upgrades.
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