The environmental impact of buying a new laptop
3rd Aug 2022
When you buy a new laptop, it often comes with a lot of plastic packaging and other materials that can be difficult to recycle. Not to mention the fact that manufacturing new electronics requires a lot of energy and resources.
But did you know that buying a used laptop can actually be much more environmentally friendly?
Here’s why:
1. Used laptops don’t require new resources: Every manufactured product is responsible for a “resource footprint,” meaning the total amount of resources used in its creation. When you buy a used laptop, you’re not responsible for the resource footprint of creating a brand new one.
2. Used laptops don’t generate pollution: The process of creating electronics is notoriously polluting. In fact, the United Nations estimates that e-waste is responsible for releasing around 40 million metric tons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere each year. By buying a used laptop, you can help reduce this pollution.
3. Used laptops don’t require energy to create: The manufacturing process for electronics requires a lot of energy – often from electricity generated by coal-fired power plants. This means that buying a new laptop has a pretty big carbon footprint. If you buy a used laptop instead, you can avoid this emissions impact.
4. Used laptops don’t have packaging: One of the benefits of buying a used laptop is that it won’t come with all the plastic packaging and other materials that are difficult to recycle.
5. Used laptops don’t require shipping: If you buy a used laptop from a UK-based website like RegenTech, you can avoid the emissions from shipping a new one from an overseas factory to your doorstep.