Stuart Broadbent
Client Devices Director
September 23, 2026
When your old laptops, desktops and servers leave your organisation, do you know what happens next? More importantly, can your IT Asset Disposal (ITAD) provider give you credible data showing how those assets were transported, reused, recycled or otherwise processed?
Most organisations now want a clearer picture of the emissions generated across their wider value chain. But while areas such as business travel and energy consumption tend to receive plenty of attention, retired IT equipment can easily become a blind spot.
A collection certificate or a promise that everything was “diverted from landfill” is useful, but it may not give your sustainability team the detail it needs. If you are working towards more complete Scope 3 reporting, the quality of information you receive from your ITAD provider matters.
At DTP, this reporting comes as standard through the HPE Financial Services reporting we provide to clients, giving organisations clear evidence of what happened to their retired assets and the environmental outcomes achieved.
What are end-of-life emissions?
End-of-life emissions are the greenhouse gas emissions created when a product is discarded, recycled, recovered, incinerated or sent to landfill.
For IT equipment, these emissions can arise from activities including:
- Collecting and transporting retired devices
- Testing, wiping and preparing equipment for reuse
- Dismantling and processing assets
- Recycling materials such as metals, plastics and glass
- Recovering energy from waste
- Disposing of materials that cannot be reused or recycled
The emissions associated with each route can vary considerably. That is why knowing the number of assets collected is only part of the picture. Organisations also need to understand what happened to those assets afterwards.
Where does IT Asset Disposal fit into Scope 3 emissions?
Scope 3 covers indirect emissions across an organisation’s value chain. In practice, the category used for retired IT will depend on the organisation and its relationship to the equipment.
For most organisations disposing of equipment used within their own operations, emissions from third-party treatment are generally considered under Scope 3 Category 5: Waste generated in operations.
For a manufacturer or seller assessing what happens to products after customers have finished using them, Category 12: End-of-life treatment of sold products may be more relevant. The GHG Protocol provides separate calculation guidance for these categories.
For example, you may know that 500 laptops were collected, but can you answer the following?
- How many were successfully remarketed or redeployed?
- How many were recycled?
- What materials were recovered?
- How much equipment was processed by weight?
- Where and how were the assets treated?
- Are estimated carbon benefits reported separately from actual emissions?
Without this information, organisations may have to rely on broad estimates. That makes it harder to improve reporting accuracy, compare providers or demonstrate progress over time.
What Scope 3 information should your ITAD provider give you?
A good ITAD provider should give you evidence that is useful to your sustainability, IT, finance and compliance teams – not simply confirmation that a collection took place.
This should include:
- Asset type, quantity and, where relevant, weight
- The outcome for each asset, such as reuse, resale, parts recovery or recycling
- A breakdown of materials recovered through recycling
- Details of any assets or materials sent for energy recovery or final disposal
- Information about collection and transportation
- The facilities and locations used to process the equipment
- The methodology and emissions factors used for any carbon calculations
- Clear reporting boundaries, assumptions and exclusions
UK Government greenhouse gas conversion factors can be used to calculate emissions from activity data, with updated factors and methodology published annually. If your provider presents a carbon figure, ask whether it is based on recognised factors, supplier-specific data or an internal calculation.
It is also important to distinguish between emissions generated and emissions potentially avoided through reuse or recycling. Both can provide valuable insight, but they are not interchangeable. Any avoided-emissions estimate should be clearly labelled, with its methodology and assumptions explained, rather than automatically deducted from your Scope 3 inventory.
Five questions to ask your ITAD provider
If you are reviewing your current service or choosing a new provider, start with these five questions:
1. Can you show what happened to every asset?
2. Do you separate reuse, recycling, recovery and disposal?
3. What data can you provide for our Scope 3 reporting?
4. How are your environmental figures calculated?
5. Can you provide evidence that stands up to scrutiny?
The right ITAD partner should help you understand the complete outcome of your retired technology. That means protecting your data and recovering financial value, while also giving your sustainability team credible evidence of where equipment went and how it was treated.
At DTP, our IT Asset Disposal service includes secure data sanitisation, serialised asset tracking and comprehensive reporting provided through HPE Financial Services as standard. This gives you a clear record of how your assets were processed, including reuse and recycling outcomes, recovered materials and the associated environmental impact.
It provides credible evidence to support sustainability reporting, alongside a clear view of the financial value recovered from your retired IT estate.
