McKesson Europe : conserves natural resources by liberating IT equipment

Date created5. May 2021 McKesson Europe conserves natural resources by liberating IT equipment

As part of its commitment to reduce, reuse and recycle, McKesson Europe is working with an IT refurbisher to breathe new life into decommissioned devices from its Stuttgart headquarters.

Last year, more than 350 items such as laptops, mobile phones and monitors, were processed by partners AfB for McKesson Europe AG. Data carriers that still contain confidential data are wiped clean in a certified process so that they can no longer be restored. Devices which are still usable are reconditioned, loaded with new software and resold. Electronics that can no longer be used are professionally disassembled, recycled and returned to the raw materials market.

Dr Kristin Vorbohle, McKesson Europe Head of Sustainability and Branding, said: 'We have a commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030 and to a low carbon society. Extending the product life cycle, conserving natural resources and reducing emissions is essential if we are to achieve this challenging goal.

'As a result of refurbishing these items, 40,635 kg CO₂ equivalents were saved. To reduce this amount of CO₂ from the atmosphere, you would otherwise need 4060 trees to absorb this amount of CO₂ within a year - quite a forest!

'Besides carbon dioxide, we also saved water: we prevented the usage of 216,000 litres of fresh water - this is equivalent to the amount of water an average European would use in four years.​'

Not-for-profit company AfB creates jobs for disabled people and the relationship with McKesson Europe AG has enabled the creation of one new role so far.

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