The tech industry is a notorious generator of electronic waste or e-waste. In 2022, 62 million metric tons were generated across the world, doubling the volume of discarded electronic material from 2010. In New Zealand alone, we produce more than 20 kgs of e-waste every year – one of the highest per capita amounts on the planet.
To combat e-waste, Lenovo is transitioning to a circular economy by focusing on “design, use, return, and re-use’, promoting disassembly and recycling. By 2025, Lenovo aims to have 80% of its devices repairable, along with wanting to recycle 800 million pounds of end-of-life products through a closed-loop process – a process that transforms old plastics into high-quality material for new devices.
Lenovo’s ThinkPad series is common in many corporate offices. These laptops are renowned for their durability and reliability, making them the ideal choice for enterprise deployments and the perfect device for Lenovo’s repairability initiative.
Fixing laptops can be time-consuming and difficult. Many laptop components are usually glued or soldered in place, making repairs impractical and expensive. Lenovo’s repairable devices are a game-changer for many businesses seeking significant cost savings and minimising their environmental impact. By making devices easier to repair and components more accessible, businesses minimise downtime and extend the lifespans of their devices.
Lenovo’s partnership with iFixit, an American company that disassembles and rates the repairability of consumer and business devices, is a positive step towards promoting sustainable manufacturing. iFixit offers a vast library of comprehensive repair guidelines, providing users with knowledge and resources to extend the lifespan of their devices.
“This is a major step forward for Lenovo and the technology industry. Making laptops that stand the test of time is essential to building a sustainable electronics industry. It’s not easy, and Lenovo is demonstrating that repairability and innovation go hand-in-hand,” said Kyle Wiens, CEO at iFixit.
Lenovo’s commitment to repairable laptops takes centre stage with the ThinkPad T14 Gen 5 and T16 Gen 3. Designed in collaboration with iFixit’s solution team, these devices achieve a provisional repairability score of 9.3 out of 10. These ThinkPad laptops feature Customer Replaceable Units (CRUs) like batteries, memory modules (DIMMs), solid-state drives (SSDs), and WWAN cards.
Lenovo’s partnership with iFixit extends beyond the laptop repairability design. Together they’ve created comprehensive repair guides with video tutorials for all the CRUs. This collaboration empowers users with the knowledge and resources to repair Lenovo laptops, ultimately extending the lifespan of the devices, and reducing e-waste.
Lenovo’s sustainability initiative proves that repairable devices can be mainstreamed without sacrificing performance or design.
