Though you may have kept an old iPod for nostalgia out of fear of losing that one playlist, let’s face it - everyone loves receiving a brand new, shiny piece of technology. We can’t hold on to every gadget though, so what do we do with our old ones?
While many end-of-life devices end up in landfills, we’ve found a better way. For four years, we’ve partnered with Compugen, and through their Green4Good program, we’ve responsibly disposed of 4,127 assets (including 342 desktops, 771 monitors, and 677 notebooks, amongst other devices), totalling 51,573 pounds of equipment in 2020 alone.
Green4Good is a zero-landfill program. This means all the equipment we give them is either recycled or refurbished and resold to other organizations. Compugen has resold our refurbished assets for approximately $10,000, which Green4Good will donate on our behalf to charities this year.
“Participating in the Green4Good program is a great way for us to support local charities while being conscious of the environment,” says Darren Britton, manager, IT asset management.
To increase awareness of this program, our Digital & Information Technology team held an internal contest in February where employees shared their own recycling story. All entrants were entered into a draw. The winners, Carolyne Hadley and Neil Rysavy directed $5,000 each to their respective charities, Inn Out of the Cold St. Thomas-Elgin and Shiloh Rebman Youth Ranch Society, to receive the Green4Good donations.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic we identified the need to expand our services to assist those experiencing homelessness in our community. This generous donation will go a long way for our new expanded facility that will allow our guests to receive services under one roof, 24/7,” shares Lori Fitzgerald, executive director, Inn Out of the Cold St. Thomas-Elgin.
Another benefit to this program is that by repurposing assets instead of sending them to a landfill we generate 509 carbon credits. This is equivalent to taking an average passenger vehicle off the road for two million kilometres, or offsetting 64 million smartphone charges. We can use these carbon credits to meet our 2030 greenhouse gas commitment. Visit Green4Good’s website to learn more about carbon credits.
Suncor has been involved with Green4Good since 2017. During this time, we’ve disposed of over 34,000 pieces of IT equipment, totalling over 504,000 pounds that avoided the landfill. More than $130,000 has also been donated to charities over the past four years. Since 2017, we’ve self-generated approximately 2,600 carbon credits through Green4Good and we’re looking forward to continuing to work with them.
“We’ve been able to accomplish so much with our involvement with Green4Good,” shares John Hill, VP, digital & information technology. “Being able to responsibly dispose of our IT assets to generate carbon credits and donations for local charities directly supports Suncor’s purpose of caring for each other and the earth.”
