Goals related to resource utilisation and the circular economy
Following the finalisation of the Bechtle Circular IT concept and the sustainable procurement concept in the reporting period, the development of measurable, results-oriented targets with regard to the material impacts, risks and opportunities is planned. A period of two years has been set for this process. In addition, the actions of the procurement strategy are tracked and regularly reviewed – both in terms of their timely implementation and their effectiveness in relation to the material sustainability-related IROs. In the Bechtle Circular IT division, re-marketing (sale of refurbished IT) and recycling quotas are being considered as possible metrics.
Resource inflows
Bechtle generates a significant proportion of its business volume with IT hardware, such as computers, notebooks, servers, network technology and peripheral devices whose main materials include metals (e.g. aluminium and copper), plastics, critical raw materials and rare earths (e.g. neodymium, tantalum and cobalt). The packaging is mainly made of cardboard, plastic and in some cases recyclable materials. In the upstream value chain, water is also required for the production of semiconductors and other components. Property, plant and equipment, such as production machinery and logistics centres, play a central role in the manufacture and distribution of products. Bechtle Circular IT is the central business unit within Bechtle Logistik & Service GmbH for the implementation of the circular economy in the area of IT products. By reusing, refurbishing and sustainably recycling used IT equipment, it makes an active contribution to conserving resources.
Resource outflows
Bechtle’s resource outflows are closely linked to the main IROs in the area of resource use and the circular economy. As part of our business activities, our customers in particular generate waste from the disposal of IT hardware containing valuable raw materials such as gold, tungsten and rare earths.
Products and materials
Manufacturers of IT hardware specify an expected service life in their product data sheets; however, this depends on the respective product type and also differs between models.
We were able to determine the following average expected service life on the basis of product data sheets from established manufacturers for the following product groups: monitors five years, desktop PCs five years, workstations five years, notebooks four years, tablets three years, smartphones two years, servers five years, storage systems four years, docking stations four years, thin clients four years and printers five years.
Only a few industry averages are available. For example, a study by Öko-Institut Freiburg shows an average service life of four years for tablets and an average service life of 2.5 years, as well as an average service life of five years for PCs, notebooks and.
EU Directive (EU) 2024/1799 – Right to Repair was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union in 2024. At the time of writing, the directive had not yet been fully implemented in Germany. France has such an index, the “Indice de réparabilité”. The repairability index is a metric that indicates how easily a product can be repaired. Among other things, assessments are made as to how readily spare parts are available, whether repair instructions are provided and how time-consuming repairs are. The scale ranges from 0 to 10 and is categorised according to the manufacturer. The higher the number, the easier it is to repair the product. The index is an important indicator of the environmental friendliness and sustainability of the product.
The evaluation is based on five main criteria:
Documentation: availability of technical repair instructions
Easy to dismantle: ease of disassembly, tools and fixings used.
Availability of spare parts: duration and delivery times of spare parts availability.
Price of spare parts: ratio between spare parts costs and product price.
Product-specific criteria: Special features depending on the product category, e.g. software reset for smartphones.
Bechtle displays the repairability index in the Bechtle Shop if provided by the manufacturer.
As the ratings within a product group vary greatly and depend on the individual characteristics of a single product, a median was determined for the repairability of the notebook and smartphone product groups, which can be used as a general guide. The focus on these two device categories results from the current roll-out of the EU directive, which initially only covers these product groups. This is based on manufacturer-specific values per item.
Notebooks – median 8.1
Smartphone – median 8.1
The hardware products consist mainly of electronic components (raw materials such as metals or rare earths), plastic and displays, which are usually made of glass and liquid crystals. The recyclable content in our products and packaging cannot be influenced by us as an IT retailer, nor is it traceable across products and manufacturers.
Disclosures on the recycled portion of the materials used in the end products (post-consumer recycled materials) can be found from the large manufacturers only in relation to product series and refer to different materials. They cannot currently be analysed by us at the product level.
The EU’s general recycling rate can provide an initial indication of the proportion of recycled content in new products. According to data from the European Parliament, the recycling rate for electronic waste is less than 40 per cent. The European Environment Agency states a recycling rate of 32 per cent for electronic waste for 2022. Materials used in new products, such as aluminium or plastic, can already consist of recycled waste. Recyclability also depends heavily on the design. If the installed components of the IT hardware can be cleanly separated, a higher recycling rate is possible than with glued components.
The following table provides an overview of the recyclable proportion of the materials used by Bechtle in the area of packaging:
The recycling rates for the materials used are mainly taken from the official statistics “Volume and recycling rates of packaging” from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUKN).
