How much carbon does reusing your IT actually save?
Every device you refurbish and reuse instead of scrapping avoids the carbon of building a new one. Enter your equipment to estimate the CO2e and e-waste you could keep out of the atmosphere and landfill.
Your equipment
Laptop
~300 kg CO2e each
Desktop / tower
~350 kg CO2e each
Monitor
~230 kg CO2e each
Smartphone
~60 kg CO2e each
Tablet
~110 kg CO2e each
Server (1U/2U)
~1.6 t CO2e each
Networking (switch/router)
~300 kg CO2e each
Estimated carbon avoided through refurbishment and reuse
3.8 tCO2e
2
cars off the road for a year
181
trees absorbing CO2 for a year
2
return flights London to New York
E-waste diverted from landfill
60 kg
Devices given a second life
15
Why the end-of-life route matters
Carbon avoided for the same equipment, by disposal choice.
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Methodology & sources
These results are estimates intended for guidance and awareness, not a certified carbon footprint. Figures are deliberately conservative and based on published averages. Your actual savings depend on device age, specification and condition.
Embodied carbon
Per-device CO2e from manufacturer life-cycle assessments (Dell, HP, Lenovo, Apple) and WRAP / Circular Computing laptop studies.
Displacement factors
Reuse avoids most of a new build (80%), recycling a smaller share (15%), and landfill effectively none, reflecting where lifetime carbon sits.
Equivalences
Car, tree and flight comparisons use UK Government GHG conversion factors (DEFRA / DESNZ).
Turn these estimates into verified savings
Nanosoft collects your redundant IT securely, refurbishes what still has life, and gives you the chain-of-custody and disposition evidence to report real, defensible carbon savings in your ESG or CSR return.
Carbon calculator questions people actually ask
How does the carbon savings calculator work?+
It multiplies the number of devices you enter by published average embodied-carbon figures for each device type, then applies a displacement factor for the chosen end-of-life route. Reuse and refurbishment avoid most of the carbon of making a new replacement, recycling avoids a smaller share, and landfill avoids almost none.
Where do the carbon figures come from?+
The per-device figures are conservative public averages drawn from manufacturer life-cycle assessments (Dell, HP, Lenovo, Apple), WRAP and Circular Computing laptop studies, and UK Government GHG conversion factors for the car, tree and flight equivalences. They are estimates for guidance, not a certified footprint.
Are these numbers audit-ready?+
The calculator gives a defensible estimate for planning and awareness. For ESG or CSR reporting we can turn your actual asset list into a verified savings report backed by chain-of-custody and disposition evidence.
Why is reuse better than recycling for carbon?+
Most of a device’s lifetime carbon is embodied in its manufacture. Keeping a working device in service through refurbishment avoids building a new one. Recycling recovers materials but still discards that embodied carbon, so it saves far less.
Note: Figures are conservative public averages drawn from manufacturer life-cycle assessments, WRAP / Circular Computing studies and UK Government GHG conversion factors (DEFRA / DESNZ). Results are estimates for guidance and awareness only, not a certified carbon footprint or legal advice. Actual savings depend on device age, specification, condition and how equipment is ultimately processed. For reporting, we can produce a verified savings figure from your actual asset list and disposition evidence.