Source: Northern Territory Police and Fire Services
Canberra-based business WV Technologies saves more than 100,000 devices from ending up in landfill each year.
E-waste is being thrown away and piling up at an alarming rate across the world. As technology changes and improves, 40 million electronic devices are being discarded each year.
Canberra-born business WV Technologies is tackling this problem head-on and is a great example of circular economy in action.
Circular Economy
A circular economy ensures that materials and resources are captured and recirculated, adding value to products that were previously considered waste. Circular economies create jobs and reduce waste.
Through servicing a national group of business and government departments, WV Technologies saves more than 100,00 devices from ending up at the tip in landfill.
Computers, laptops, tablets and phones are sanitised, refurbished, and resold by WV Technologies, which helps reduce the impact of e-waste on the environment. Through its business model, WV Technologies contributes the same in energy savings and greenhouse gas emissions reduction as removing around 40,000 households from the grid.
WV employs specialised staff to sanitise each device and destroys all data held before the device is resold.
“Some IT devices are recycled which does reduce the impact on the environment but if we can refurbish and reuse IT assets, we can be 40 times more effective in saving energy and resources,” Managing Director and co-founder of WV Technologies Kurt Gruber said.
“Alternatively, devices that are not suitable for refurbishment are broken down and recycled where possible, recovering maximum resources and minimising the amount of e-waste ending up in landfill.”
Managing Director and co-founder of WV Technologies Kurt Gruber.
Community and social benefits
Some items that are refurbished are put into a community laptop program to assist students at the Canberra Institute of Technology who may not be able to afford their own.
WV Technologies also employs Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, at-risk youth and long-term unemployed.
To find out more about WV Technologies and its circular economy business in action, please visit the Everyday Climate Choices website: climatechoices.act.gov.au
Get ACT news and events delivered straight to your inbox, sign up to our email newsletter: