The growth of AI and the subsequent appetite for data infrastructure is increasing demand for energy, water and raw materials. To combat this growing burden, industrial sectors are adopting closed-loop water systems, AI-enabled material recovery, and smarter resource monitoring to keep materials in use for longer and reduce waste at source.
This approach builds the fundamentals of recycling into the organisation’s infrastructure, improving efficiency, resilience and long-term sustainability. In theory, this is a win-win solution, but it’s not always as simple as it sounds and many businesses are struggling to implement these measures. Global Recycling Day offers a chance to reflect not only on the increasing importance of sustainability, but how can organisations in the fast-paced tech sector can build this into their foundations.
The Sustainability Struggle
With growing demand on energy resources, there is an onus on organisations to explore and implement greater sustainability initiatives. However, this can be a daunting prospect. Taran Rai, Corporate Sustainability Manager at Epson UK, recognises that “a fully circular economy may feel ambitious, but progress often begins with focused, practical steps.” She offers encouragement to those organisations looking to implement change, explaining how “designing products to be smaller and lighter reduces material use from the outset. Considering the end-of-life during R&D helps close material loops. Extending product lifespans through repair, refurbishment and reuse keeps resources in circulation for longer. Incremental measures, scaled over time, can deliver meaningful impact.”
As well as focusing on internal change, Saskia Van Gendt, Chief Sustainability Officer at Blue Yonder, advocates for businesses to look wider – across their supply chains. She admits that “global supply chains are built for scale, not sustainability”, but makes the point that this model is “increasingly at odds with regulatory, environmental and commercial priorities. Overproduction remains a growing and costly challenge for businesses, leading to unsold inventory, markdowns and waste.”
Van Gendt notes how “new regulations demand much greater transparency across supply chains”, which is “pushing businesses to increase recycled content and address barriers such as costly reverse logistics.”
The world is changing and businesses cannot afford remain stagnant. To effect meaningful change, sustainability measures must be built into the heart of local infrastructure and the wider supply chain.
The AI Impact
The impact of AI on business sustainability cannot be avoided as the technology is adopted far and wide. For Epson’s Rai, it is essential that sustainability measures evolve to keep pace with technological progress. She notes that “the rapid expansion of AI and data infrastructure is reshaping industrial priorities with a shift towards mass-consumption.” Her argument is clear: “While innovation is essential, it also brings increased demand for energy, water and finite raw materials. Data centres, semiconductor manufacturing and connected devices all rely on resource-intensive systems. If recycling remains a downstream afterthought, we risk compounding these pressures.”
Blue Yonder’s Van Gendt is quick to point out that technology has its benefits, as well as its flaws. She argues that AI can be a solution too, as “AI-powered systems can provide end-to-end visibility across all supply chain tiers, enabling companies to trace materials, assess environmental impact and ensure regulatory compliance.”
This approach is key to making meaningful change, as Van Gendt highlights how “these solutions also reduce the complexity and cost of reverse logistics by identifying network efficiencies, supporting the recovery and reuse of post-consumer and post-industrial materials. Technology is driving significant improvements in the way organisations can approach sustainability, getting us closer to a truly circular economy.”
Build the right infrastructure
Ensuring businesses can integrate these sustainability initiatives is key. Paraic O’Lochlainn, VP of eMaint at Fluke Corporation, calls for greater care in how infrastructure is maintained. He voices concerns that “many organisations still treat maintenance as a cost line and a service function. When production is under pressure, routine inspection work and condition checks slip.”
When it comes to building sustainable practices, efficiency is key – systems that go unchecked and risk failure could result in critical inefficiencies that undermine any sustainability initiatives in place.
For O’Lochlainn, “predictive and condition-based maintenance can break that cycle, but only if they are treated as a way of working, not a bolt-on project. The next phase of sustainable manufacturing will be decided less by what companies announce and more by what sites can sustain. If you want energy baselines and early-warning signals to translate into lasting improvement, maintenance can’t sit on the periphery of performance management. It has to be part of how the site runs.”
Another major concern facing the industry at present is overconsumption of water. Paula Reichert, VP Northern Europe at AVEVA, emphasises that “a key strategy for reducing water usage is recycling. In food processing and other wash-intensive industries, large volumes of water are used for cleaning raw materials and equipment. Modern treatment technologies, such as membrane bioreactors, can clean this to a level where it can be reused, enabling organisations to recycle the majority of their wash water.”
“When recycling systems are paired with centralised monitoring and detailed trend analysis, engineers on site can fine-tune their performance and diagnose any problems quickly,” she adds “This ensures that as mains water usage falls, engineering call outs related to the water treatment will remain low as onsite teams gain confidence and visibility into the systems.”
Sustainability is 24/7
Sustainability is not about implementing one or two new processes to meet regulations. Hugh Scantlebury, CEO and Founder of Aqilla, champions sustainability as a “part of everyday thinking – across procurement, operations, and finance.” He argues that this way, it “stops being a one-off initiative and becomes part of how the organisation operates. And when that mindset is culturally embedded, it’s far less likely to slip down the priority list when new trends or technologies capture leadership attention.”
Digital infrastructure must adapt to use energy efficiently. For Scantlebury, the question is clear: “Are we treating materials and resources with the same discipline and care that we apply to financial ones?”
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