The burden of disposal shifts straight onto your organisation. You carry the risk. They keep the revenue. This is the dirty secret the industry would rather you ignore.

Stop letting vendors walk away from their mess

We believe responsibility does not end when a device is delivered. We support reduce, reuse and recycle, but slogans mean nothing without ownership of the full lifecycle.

Under the National Environmental Management Waste Act and the Extended Producer Responsibility framework, anyone who supplies or refurbishes equipment must take responsibility for the entire lifespan of that equipment. Vendors cannot hand off the burden to the client and pretend the work is done.

In practical terms, this means when a device becomes obsolete, we take it back. We prevent it from being dumped in a landfill or polluting water systems.

We refurbish it where possible and recycle it when required. We track the process and close the loop. Any vendor who refuses to do the same is working within an outdated and irresponsible model.

The myth of responsible procurement is costing CIOs real money

Organisations sign impressive contracts, but too many vendors disappear when hardware reaches end of life. The result is unmanaged liability, regulatory exposure and the risk of equipment falling into the wrong channels. This is not sustainability.

This is a transfer of cost and risk from the vendor to the client, which ultimately affects total cost of ownership. If your vendor is only accountable for delivery, you are enabling a broken system.

This is why we tell our clients to demand evidence of real Extended Producer Responsibility. Insist on lifecycle management that covers acquisition, operation, decommissioning, return, reuse and recycling.

If a vendor cannot show documented processes, metrics, chain of custody and certifications, they are not contributing to your sustainability mandate. They are convenience suppliers, not strategic partners.

The uncomfortable truth is that many vendors profit from waste

It is easy for them to sell new equipment. It is profitable. But when it comes to what happens when that equipment becomes redundant, responsibility evaporates. Clients pay premium prices believing they have chosen a safe option, only to discover the vendor is nowhere to be found when disposal becomes an issue.

The result is mounting waste, expanding landfills and growing environmental risk. This is not innovation. It is negligence.

Our position is clear, we accept obsolete equipment through our complete information technology asset disposition program.

We ensure nothing ends up in landfill or water systems. We refurbish devices to extend life where possible and recycle responsibly when not.

We document the impact in kilograms of e-waste prevented, device lives extended and raw materials preserved. Our clients report measurable progress rather than marketing claims.

CIOs must start asking the questions vendors hope you avoid

• When a vendor promises to handle disposal, ask how.
• Do they guarantee secure and responsible decommissioning?
• Do they provide certificates that prove compliance?
• Do they take equipment back at no extra cost?
• Can they prove that nothing ends up in landfills or water streams?
• If the answer is no, you are outsourcing your risk to the very party who created it.

This is where leadership matters

We are raising the bar not for brand positioning but because moral duty and business sense are aligned. The world cannot absorb another cycle of buy, use, dump.

Regulations are tightening, reputational exposure is rising and stakeholders expect real accountability. The question is no longer whether lifecycle responsibility matters. The question is who will step up and lead.

Buying refurbished equipment is not enough if the vendor ignores the back end. Without take back responsibility, your sustainability efforts end in a landfill.

A vendor who sells you hardware but refuses to manage obsolescence is not neutral. They are part of the problem.

Our challenge to the industry

• We will hold ourselves accountable.
• We will accept all equipment that clients hand back.
• We will not shift environmental or legal risk to anyone else.
• We will document and report real impact.
• We will encourage clients to demand the same of every vendor they work with.

To every CIO and procurement leader: end of life must be part of your vendor assessment. It is not optional. If a vendor cannot demonstrate total lifecycle responsibility, you are buying into a legacy of waste and you will inherit the consequences.

Sustainability is not a label. It is a chain of actions and a long term commitment. If you procure technology and ignore the final stage, you share responsibility for what follows. Ask the difficult questions.

Reject comfortable excuses. Choose vendors who take ownership of the full lifecycle. Your environment, your business and your reputation depend on it.

The fastest and most reliable way to respond to constrained chip availability is not to compete harder for new supply, but to unlock the value already embedded in existing technology.

IDC research confirms that global memory shortages will intensify through 2026 as DRAM and NAND production is prioritised for AI and hyperscale infrastructure.

Rising prices, longer lead times, and constrained availability are already impacting PCs, servers, and enterprise devices.

The shortage is structural, not temporary, and it is exposing the limits of a procurement strategy built only around new equipment.

Businesses that assumed supply would always be abundant are discovering that assumption was dangerously naive.

Qrent provides the practical response that the market demands. By enabling structured refurbishment, intelligent reuse, and lifecycle extension, the company allows organisations to reclaim capacity that would otherwise be discarded or wasted.

Every redeployed or optimised device reduces dependence on volatile chip markets and mitigates the operational risks caused by scarcity.

Equally important, supported by its asset tracking software, Qrent also delivers visibility across technology estates.

Organisations gain insight into what they already own, what can be reused, and what genuinely requires replacement.

This prevents unnecessary procurement driven by outdated assumptions and reactive strategies. In a market where memory pricing is volatile and supply is prioritised for AI workloads, such intelligence is no longer optional – it is critical for survival.

Kwirirai Rukowo, managing executive of Qrent, says the global chip shortage is less a failure of supply but the need for a more resilient sourcing strategy.

“Waiting for fabrication capacity to restore normal conditions is a losing proposition. IDC data suggests that even as production expands, AI and hyperscale demand will continue to dominate supply.”

Businesses that do not act now to optimise, reuse, and manage existing assets will remain exposed, paying more for less, while competitors who act strategically gain resilience.

He says the chip shortage is not just a temporary inconvenience – it is a reckoning.

“Qrent ensures organisations can turn refurbished assets into operational strength, reduce exposure to constrained markets, and maintain performance in a world where scarcity has become the new normal.”

“The fastest and most reliable way to survive is not to chase supply. It is to reclaim what already exists and Qrent makes that possible,” he concludes.

What the last few years have exposed is that refurbished technology has consistently outperformed new hardware when the supply chain comes under pressure.

In a market shaped by chip shortages, extended lead times and unpredictable pricing, refurbished has proven itself not as a fallback but as the quiet constant.

The global chip shortage did not create this advantage. It simply revealed it.

IDC reports that semiconductor and memory constraints are expected to persist through at least 2026 as manufacturing capacity is absorbed by AI systems and hyperscale infrastructure.

As a result, access to new equipment has become uncertain and increasingly expensive.

This shift has forced organisations to rethink what reliability really means in IT procurement.

The question is no longer about specification alone. It is about availability, timing, and the ability to keep operations running without interruption.

This is where refurbished technology has always excelled. Unlike new equipment that depends on long and fragile global production cycles, refurbished assets already exist within the market.

They are available immediately, can be deployed at speed, and come with pricing that is far more predictable. When supply chains tighten, refurbished does not slow down. It becomes more valuable.

Cost pressure reinforces this reality. As scarcity drives up the price of new hardware, refurbished equipment remains largely insulated from those fluctuations.

Gartner analysis shows that lifecycle extension strategies can significantly reduce endpoint and infrastructure costs without materially affecting performance for the majority of business workloads.

In practical terms, refurbished delivers stable capability at a lower and more controllable cost. That stability matters.

It allows organisations to allocate capital strategically instead of locking it into depreciating assets that may take months to arrive.

Performance concerns have also narrowed to the point of irrelevance for most environments. The vast majority of enterprise applications do not require the latest generation processors to operate effectively.

Productivity platforms, collaboration tools, virtual desktops and line of business systems run comfortably on well managed refurbished hardware.

When combined with structured asset management and refresh planning, the performance gap between new and refurbished becomes largely theoretical rather than operational.

Resilience is where refurbished has always been strongest. Ownership of new equipment offers little protection when replacement stock is unavailable or delayed.

Refurbished fleets supported by rental and flexible deployment models allow organisations to scale, replace or recover capacity without waiting for manufacturers to resolve supply constraints.

Sustainability strengthens the argument but it is no longer the primary driver. Extending the life of equipment reduces e-waste and carbon impact, yet the dominant benefit today is operational certainty.

Refurbished technology gives organisations control in a market where new supply is unpredictable and often out of reach.

The current shortage has exposed a simple truth. New has never guaranteed continuity. Refurbished has.

In an environment defined by disruption, refurbished competes on the factors that matter most now and always have.

Price certainty. Immediate availability. Speed of deployment. For many organisations, refurbished is no longer the alternative. It is the backbone.

New requirements under the National Environmental Management: Waste Act now impose heavier penalties on improper disposal, while the expanded carbon tax framework brings Scope 3 emissions – including the full lifecycle impact of IT equipment – into sharp focus.

Qrent, a leading provider of sustainable IT asset management solutions, is helping CIOs and procurement leaders tackle both e-waste and carbon liability without breaking the budget. By combining high-performance, certified carbon-neutral remanufactured devices with end-to-end asset management, the company ensures every rand spent on IT delivers measurable environmental impact.

“The true cost of IT is no longer just about rands and cents,” says Kwirirai Rukowo, managing executive at Qrent. “With tougher e-waste regulations and rising carbon taxes, CIOs need solutions that deliver performance, compliance, and accountability – all in one package.”

Through its exclusive partnership with Circular Computing, Qrent offers remanufactured laptops built to the highest global sustainability standards and backed by third-party carbon-neutral certification.

Each device undergoes a rigorous 360-point quality and emissions assessment, guaranteeing verifiable offsets that CIOs can confidently report in boardrooms.

Qrent’s comprehensive services extend well beyond device procurement:

• Refurbishment & Rental: Extending asset lifecycles by up to five years, reducing raw-material extraction and e-waste volume.
• Maintenance & Redeployment: Regular updates and device swaps to maximise uptime and defer end-of-life.
• Responsible Recycling: When devices are retired, Qrent’s certified partners dismantle and process e-waste in compliance with global best practices, recovering valuable metals and neutralising hazardous substances.

“Smart procurement is now sustainability-led,” Rukowo explains. “Every time a business chooses a Qrent carbon-neutral laptop, they’re cutting e-waste, reducing carbon liability, and supporting the circular economy – without compromising on enterprise-grade performance.”

With Scope 3 emissions now under scrutiny, Qrent’s transparent, data-driven approach helps organisations meet Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) commitments and stay ahead of evolving regulations.

By integrating these solutions into their carbon-reporting frameworks, companies can demonstrate real-world impact – rather than wishful greenwashing.

“We invite forward-thinking businesses to take control of their carbon and e-waste roadmaps. There’s no need to wait for penalties to hit the bottom line,” Rukowo concludes. “The technology and processes exist today – our role is to make them simple, transparent, and cost-effective.”