The Green Grid has launched a new metric to help data center operators and organizations measure how electronic equipment is managed once it reaches end-of-current-use.
The Electronics Disposal Efficiency (EDE) metric is the first universal metric launched by The Green Grid to help end-users of information and communications technologies (ICT) measure their success in the responsible management of outdated equipment.

EDE is a simple metric that helps organizations calculate and measure their progress in improving equipment disposal processes over time, The Green Grid said.

Discarded Electronics and Electrical Equipment (EEE) entering the waste stream is known globally as e-waste or Waste Electronics and Electrical Equipment (WEEE). Examples of WEEE include computers, mobile devices, home entertainment products, toys, and even goods such as refrigerators and stoves.

The definition and monitoring of WEEE worldwide has evolved over the last decade, which has prompted The Green Grid to identify the need to combine the expertise of other organizations who define standards and requirements for e-waste management with its own members’ knowledge and understanding of the e-waste management challenges facing the ICT community.

The Green Grid said the result is the creation of a metric that quantifies how well a corporate consumer of ICT EEE responsibly manages e-waste.

“The Green Grid isn’t trying to redefine any domain-specific terminology in the WEEE arena,” Kathrin Winkler, EMC representative and Board Member of The Green Grid, said.

“Our goal was to leverage the great work that has already been done by experts in the field and apply The Green Grid’s organizational experience with defining and implementing metrics in order to create a measurement and management structure around it.

“Our hope is that the EDE metric will incentivise positive behaviour and influence change on a global scale, and that organizations will be more aware of waste streams, ultimately helping them reduce waste in the future.”

The Green Grid’s EDE metric is defined by calculating the percentage, based on unit or product weight, of decommissioned IT EEE at its EOCU (end-of-current-use) or EOL (end-of-life) that is disposed of through known responsible entities.

It covers whole system reuse, partial reuse and parts and components reuse and recycling.

The Green Grid intends for the EDE metric to be used as a way for organizations to measure themselves and improve over time, rather than act as a score to be compared with other entities.

To help define EDE, The Green Grid said it tapped into its extensive knowledge of IT resource efficiency and sustainability experts, and also enlisted the help of several other organizations, including the Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP) Initiative, hosted by the United Nation’s academic arm, the United Nations University.

It said the result of the collaboration is a best practice designed to help organizations identify what they are disposing of and understand where the waste streams are going.