AWS expands datacentre hardware recycling programme to Dublin

Amazon Web Services (AWS) is expanding its efforts to reuse and recycle its datacentre hardware by opening a reverse logistics facility in Dublin, Ireland, operated by its Re:Cycle Reverse Logistics subsidiary.

The facility is designed to give a second life to the component parts of AWS datacentre hardware and server racks, including processors and network cards, while enabling the extraction of precious metals found inside these components too.

Its operations are overseen by a Dublin-based organisation trading as Re:Cycle Reverse Logistics Ireland, which forms part of the wider Amazon.com group of companies.

The Ireland facility is the first of its kind Amazon has opened outside the US, and this decision likely reflects the fact the company has a sizeable datacentre footprint in the country. Figures published on datacentre mapping website Datacenters.com suggest AWS operates 10 datacentres in Dublin alone.

According to a filing with Ireland’s Companies Registration Office, Re:Cycle Reverse Logistics Ireland was set up in March 2023 to support its parent company’s net-zero carbon goals, with its December 2023 accounts stating that 18 people were employed by the company.

AWS claims the new facility and its accompanying manufacturing sites – where the recycled kit is assembled into new datacentre hardware – has created 850 new jobs in Ireland to date, while supporting the company’s net-zero ambitions.

“This circular economy initiative supports Amazon’s path to reach net-zero carbon by ensuring fewer new components need to be produced, saving raw materials and energy,” said AWS in a statement. “While the operation is predominantly focused on reuse, where waste is generated, zero waste goes to landfill; instead, it is sent for high-end recycling.”

Amazon also has similar subsidiaries operating in other parts of the world, including the US, to support the reuse and recycling of its datacentre hardware in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Circular economy projects are increasingly important to help us build a more sustainable economy

Roderic O’Gorman, Green Party leader and the Irish minister for children, equality, disability, integration and youth, opened the Re:Cycle Reverse Logistics building and, while doing so, talked up the importance of supporting the growth of the circular economy in Ireland.  

“Circular economy projects are increasingly important to help us build a more sustainable economy,” said O’Gorman. “We need to work together to ensure that products, whatever their shape or form, are kept in use for as long as possible through smart design, repair and reuse. It’s great to see this approach being put into practice at the Amazon facility in Ballycoolin in North Dublin.”

He added: “What impressed me most are the skills and dedication of the hundreds of people who work at this site in Dublin and how they are making the circular economy a reality. Projects like this help to both reinforce Ireland’s global reputation as a sustainability leader and to achieve climate goals such as halving our emissions by 2030.”

According to AWS, its reverse logistics programmes resulted in 14.6 million hardware components being diverted from landfill globally in 2023.