Global burning of fossil fuels releases a huge amount of CO2 into the atmosphere. Scientists now agree that this is causing climate change. And in many places around the world, this is now visible.
IT Recycling has decided to map its contribution to CO2 emissions. On the one hand, our business activities contribute to CO2 emissions. This is mainly caused by road traffic.
But on the other hand, we also ensure that less CO2 is actually emitted because we ensure that computer equipment is recycled. Recycling results in lower CO2 emissions than production from new raw materials.
IT Recycling thus emits CO2 – mainly from road traffic – but, on the other hand, reduces CO2 emissions.
We do a calculation every year. We started doing this in 2013, so we have been doing this for 10 years now. The year 2021 we started very carefully to consume BLUE diesel in some cars – namely the small diesels we have, a passenger car and a van. At first this was 30% blue diesel; that is, 70% mineral diesel and 30% diesel of vegetable origin. This was because we had no idea how that was going to turn out and whether our diesel would run well on it.
At the end of 2021, we then received an accounting from the manufacturer based on liters filled. As a result, our small diesel engines emitted 27% less co2 and on the total CO2 emissions the reduction was 4%. In the year 2022, our trucks started running on blue diesel (100%). This is of vegetable and not fossil origin. In this calculation we assume that driving on plant-based fuel gives a co2 reduction of 90%. Furthermore, the use of 104 solar panels has reduced co2 emissions due to lower electricity consumption. Also, two fossil-based luxury cars have been replaced by electric models. Compared to a few years ago, our co2 emissions have fallen by more than 80%. So we have already met the 2030 Paris environmental targets. On this page you see only a summary of this calculation. On request we will send you the full calculation with explanations.
| CO2 emissions | 2025 |
| CO2 emissions from road traffic, corrected by use of blue diesel | 13 tons |
| Emissions from office and warehouse Veghel | 2 tons |
| Total CO2 emissions in 2025 | 15 tons |
Most of it comes from trucks used to pick up computer waste and haul away metal fractions to recyclers. We assume a 90% reduction by using vegetable diesel.
| 2025 | Numbers |
|---|---|
| Amount of computer material collected in 2025. | 743 tons |
| CO2 emissions if you were to produce new ones from raw materials for all this depreciated computer equipment | 14864 tons of CO2 |
| Reduction of CO2 emissions through recycling (25%) | 3716 tons of CO2 reduction |
| Total emissions CO2 | 15 tons of CO2 emissions |
| Negative footprint over 2025 | 3701 tons |
IT Recycling thus reduces CO2 by 3701 tons over the year 2025.
For every kilogram of CO2 we emit, we provide a reduction in CO2 emissions of 246 kilograms – namely 3701 divided by 15.
The biggest CO2 emitters are always the trucks. By 2024, trucks will have driven (almost) all of their miles on blue diesel 100%. Even the smaller diesels have driven on all-vehicle. And a single large gasoline truck emitted no less than 11 tons of co2 in 2022. This car is now gone and we see that in the numbers. For environmental reasons, this car was replaced by our first all-electric vehicle by the end of 2022. Furthermore, we still have a hybrid gasoline vehicle and it will soon be replaced by electric as well. In April 2024, 104 solar cells were installed on our building – these have an immediate impact on our co2 footprint and we are definitely going to see that in the 2024 footpint. In the table below you can see that the switch to plant-based fuel and the phasing out of gasoline-guzzling passenger cars is having a good effect on our co2 footprint.
Numbers in tons (1000 kg) CO2 number: ratio of our emissions to CO2 savings.
| Year | CO2 emissions | Computer waste | Footprint | CO2 number |
|---|
| 2025 | 15 | 743 | -3701 | 246 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 11 | 675 | -3366 | 304 |
| 2023 | 23 | 693 | -3443 | 147 |
| 2022 | 25 | 645 | -3204 | 125 |
| 2021 | 77 | 587 | -3012 | 37 |
| 2020 | 74 | 482 | -2339 | 32 |
| 2019 | 78 | 492 | -2301 | 30 |
| 2018 | 74 | 529 | -2571 | 35 |
| 2017 | 65 | 481 | -2430 | 36 |
| 2016 | 59 | 348 | -1683 | 29 |
| 2015 | 59 | 400 | -1940 | 32 |
