Computer refurbishment sits between disposal and new production: a device may be donated, resold, repaired, remanufactured or retained before it is recycled. Official figures show substantial reuse routes, but also large stocks of computers and other equipment that remain stored or are managed at end of life.
Contents
- UK government ICT reuse and recycling
- Which devices enter refurbishment routes?
- The scale of the UK technology estate
- What European households do with old computers
- US computer stocks and end-of-life flows
- Reuse programmes and circular procurement
UK government ICT reuse and recycling
The UK government’s ICT waste figures show that reuse and recycling can move in opposite directions from year to year. In 2020–2021, 51% of government ICT waste was reused, 41% was recycled and 0.3% was landfilled. In 2021–2022, reuse rose to 54%, while recycling was 39% and landfill was 1.6%.
The balance changed in the following reporting periods. Reuse accounted for 41% in 2022–2023, alongside 50% recycling and 0.8% landfill. In 2023–2024, 34% was reused, 63% recycled and 1.3% landfilled. The latest supplied period, 2024–2025, recorded 37% reuse, 62% recycling and 0.6% landfill.
These percentages describe reported UK government ICT waste outcomes, not all computers in the country. They also show why a recycling figure should not automatically be treated as a refurbishment figure: the categories are separate outcomes, and the published totals do not say that every recycled unit was suitable for refurbishment. Greening Government Commitments ICT Annual Report 2024 to 2025.
| Reporting period | Reused | Recycled | Landfilled |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–2021 | 51% | 41% | 0.3% |
| 2021–2022 | 54% | 39% | 1.6% |
| 2022–2023 | 41% | 50% | 0.8% |
| 2023–2024 | 34% | 63% | 1.3% |
| 2024–2025 | 37% | 62% | 0.6% |
Which devices enter refurbishment routes?
The 2024–2025 UK government device breakdown provides a more practical view of where refurbishment can occur. Desktops recorded 174 donations and 6,140 resales, compared with 2,278 recycling outcomes and 191 disposals. Laptops recorded 1,599 donations and 21,988 resales; recycling outcomes numbered 28,764 and disposals 728.
Other equipment also moved through reuse-oriented routes. Network equipment recorded 143 donations, 662 resales, 5,105 recycling outcomes and 1 disposal. Monitors recorded 223 donations, 6,016 resales, 5,750 recycling outcomes and 230 disposals. Servers recorded 57 donations, 215 resales, 830 recycling outcomes and 14 disposals.
Mobile devices had substantial donation and resale counts. Smartphones recorded 1,118 donations, 6,130 resales, 4,708 recycling outcomes and 261 disposals. Tablets recorded 63 donations, 2,063 resales, 656 recycling outcomes and 60 disposals. Across the reported device breakdown, the government recorded 10,098 donations, 49,834 resales, 82,487 recycling outcomes and 3,006 disposals.
The remaining categories were much more recycling-heavy. Printers recorded 20 donations, 41 resales, 9,533 recycling outcomes and 16 disposals. Equipment in the Other category recorded 6,701 donations, 6,579 resales, 24,863 recycling outcomes and 1,505 disposals. These are unit counts for reported routes; they do not establish that every donation or resale was a refurbished computer, nor that every recycled item was refurbishment-eligible. Greening Government Commitments ICT Annual Report 2024 to 2025.
The scale of the UK technology estate
The size of an organisation’s installed estate helps explain why refurbishment programmes can matter even when only a fraction of devices reach an end-of-life route in a given year. In 2024–2025, the UK government estate contained 1,061,209 desktop monitors, 902,667 laptops, 346,112 smartphones and 275,556 desktop PCs.
The same estate included 136,316 distributed PABX units and 53,715 wireless access points. It also contained 51,191 mobile phones excluding smartphones and 49,229 laser printers. These figures cover technology assets broadly, rather than a computer-only refurbishment stock, and they are a snapshot for 2024–2025 rather than a forecast of future disposals.
For computer refurbishment, the laptop and desktop counts are the clearest indicators of potential stock, while monitors and network equipment illustrate the wider opportunity to extend the life of connected technology. The route data above should not be divided into these estate totals without additional matching information: the published figures do not provide a like-for-like cohort or an eligibility rate. Greening Government Commitments ICT Annual Report 2024 to 2025.
What European households do with old computers
Eurostat’s 2022 ICT household survey measured what respondents did with their most recently replaced or no-longer-used device. Across the EU, 19% kept an old desktop computer at home, 13% recycled it, 8% gave it away or sold it, and 2% threw it away. The largest single reported route was therefore retention at home, rather than transfer to reuse or recycling.
Country results varied. Sweden had the highest reported share recycling old desktop computers, at 29%, while the Netherlands recorded 27%, the second-highest reported EU rate. These results refer to respondents and their most recent relevant device, not a physical count of all computers discarded during 2022.
The pattern was even more retention-heavy for laptops and tablets. In the EU, 33% kept their old laptop or tablet at home, 10% recycled it, 11% gave it away or sold it, and 1% threw it away. Sweden, Finland and Denmark each had laptop-or-tablet recycling shares close to 18%. Greece recorded 17%, followed by Croatia at 15%.
| Device type, EU 2022 survey | Kept at home | Recycled | Gave away or sold | Threw away |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Desktop computer | 19% | 13% | 8% | 2% |
| Laptop or tablet | 33% | 10% | 11% | 1% |
Retention is important in refurbishment discussions because a device kept at home has not necessarily entered a formal recovery stream. It may still be usable, awaiting a data wipe, held as a spare or simply forgotten. The survey does not identify which retained devices could be refurbished. What do people do with their old ICT equipment?.
US computer stocks and end-of-life flows
The US Environmental Protection Agency’s computer model covers an earlier period and should not be read as a current 2026 measurement. EPA estimated that 857 million computers had been sold in the US from 1980 through 2009. In 2009, an estimated 325 million computers were still in use, 70.5 million were in storage and 462 million were at end of life.
The same 1980–2009 stock model estimated 7.57 million short tons of computers sold. Of that total, 2.43 million short tons were in use in 2009, 742,000 short tons were in storage and 4.4 million short tons were at end of life. The unit and weight estimates describe different ways of expressing the modeled stock, not additional categories to add together across measures.
EPA’s estimated US computer collection-for-recycling rate rose from 33% in 2006 to 36% in 2007 and 38% in 2008. It remained 38% in 2009. EPA projected a 40% collection-for-recycling rate for 2010; that 2010 figure is explicitly a projection, not an observed result.
For wider context, EPA estimated that 438 million new electronic products were sold in the US in 2009, while 2.37 million short tons of used electronics entered end-of-life management that year. The electronics total is broader than computers, so it should not be treated as a computer-only refurbishment opportunity. Electronics Waste Management in the United States Through 2009 Executive Summary.
Reuse programmes and circular procurement
UK reuse estimates show the scale of the broader electrical and electronic equipment market. In 2017, an estimated 82,000 tonnes of used domestic electrical and electronic equipment were sent for reuse. Around 180,000 tonnes of used commercial electrical and electronic equipment were also sent for reuse. These tonnages cover electrical and electronic equipment broadly, not computers alone, so they are contextual measures for the reuse market.
The LIFE RE-WEEE project inspected 3,100 tonnes of WEEE during its lifetime through 2023 and put 347 tonnes back into use. It repaired and reused more than 1,600 laptops and tablets. The project figures demonstrate measured activity, but they are not a national total and the 347-tonne result should not be converted into a computer-only rate from the supplied information. Unlocking Resource Efficiency: Phase 2 Electricals Report; Repair, reuse and recycle for success: award-winning LIFE RE-WEEE leads the way.
More recent procurement plans show refurbishment moving upstream into purchasing decisions. Defra’s group estate includes around 72,000 devices. Its five-year contract targets refurbishment or remanufacture for 90% of its laptops, phones and tablets. Defra estimates that this refurbished-device strategy will reduce carbon emissions by 44% compared with buying new devices. That is a contract-period estimate, not a measured national reduction. How we’re making technology procurement more sustainable.