A second life for TOUGHBOOK devices with sustainable remanufacturing

Written by Lisbeth Lashmana
Head of Marketing Europe at Panasonic Mobile Solutions Business Division

With the majority of the world’s leaders recently converging on Glasgow for the COP26 summit, all our attention has been focused on the challenge we face in addressing climate change. It’s clear that there is no silver bullet solution. It will take a concerted effort. A co-ordinated undertaking by nations, businesses and individuals to begin to first slow and then move the temperature dial back in the right direction.

That’s why – although it is only a first small step – I am so pleased that Panasonic TOUGHBOOK and Circular Computing has recently announced a partnership that will help to transform the sustainability of rugged computing. We have teamed with the creators of the world’s first remanufactured laptops to create a more ethical, sustainable and socially responsible way to prolong the use of our rugged technology.

Circular Computing will remanufacture TOUGHBOOK devices – starting with the TOUGHBOOK G1 tablet with expected availability in mid-2022. The organisation will take legacy TOUGHBOOK devices and remanufacture them for a useful second life – massively increasing sustainability and reducing carbon emissions. Circular Computing calculates that for every remanufactured laptop they sell, 316kg of CO₂ emissions and 190,000 litres of water use are saved, and 1,200kg of mining minerals is prevented compared to the equivalent sale of a new laptop.

Of course, one of the challenges of remanufacturing a Panasonic rugged device – compared to a regular laptop – is the additional elements built into our devices that makes them so tough. It is a much more complex operation to remanufacture a rugged device over a regular laptop but both organisations were committed to solving the issues and contributing to a sustainable use of technology.

Circular Computing will take each device and put it through an extensive 5+ hour remanufacturing process and 360-point quality check to deliver unrivalled quality and consistency. Devices will be remanufactured to BS8887 standards by fully qualified technicians within Circular Computing's purpose-built state of the art production facility.

Circular Computing, with the world’s first BSI KITEMARK certified remanufacturing process for laptops, will also guarantee consistent quality of the same model in large volumes and, with comprehensive cosmetic detailing, every TOUGHBOOK will be refinished to exacting quality standards. It’s a terrific start. Circular Computing’s remanufactured consumer laptops are already popular with environmentally aware organisations, as well as the education sector, and small, medium organisations with budget constraints. We are hoping that many more organisation that require rugged devices will also look at this option.

Once the first remanufactured TOUGHBOOK model is available, work on other popular models in the range will follow.

We are very proud to be the first rugged computing provider to embrace this environmentally sustainable opportunity with Circular Computing and our aim is that in the future our customers and our channel providers need never throw another TOUGHBOOK device away.

Header image source: Halfpoint/shutterstock.com

Find out more about remanufactured TOUGHBOOK devices.

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A second life for TOUGHBOOK devices with sustainable remanufacturing

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