As we continue to expand our data center operations to support our customers’ growing needs with AI and cloud computing, we’re also innovating to increase efficiency and make progress toward Amazon’s commitment to net-zero carbon by 2040, all while maintaining the highest level of security. That journey won't be linear, but a big part of it will be circular.

With each stop on our roadmap, Amazon Web Services’ (AWS) aim remains the same—maximizing resource efficiency while minimizing waste. In 2024, AWS is further enhancing its circular economy strategy, which rests on three core pillars: Design Better, Operate Longer, and Recover More.

Amazon re:Cycle Reverse Logistics hubs help us recover more data center hardware by extending its life so it can be used longer. So far in 2024, more than 99% of all AWS securely decommissioned racks that were sent to these facilities were diverted from landfills by being reused by AWS, sold into the secondary market for reuse, or recycled. These reverse logistics hubs have enabled AWS to source 13% of spare parts from its own reuse inventory, and we expect this number to grow as we expand our efforts.

"We’re committed to investing and innovating in sustainability to create a more sustainable future. Embracing circularity represents a paradigm shift in resource management, and at AWS, we're leveraging multiple strategies to drive this transformation," said Manju Murugesan, AWS's circular economy strategy lead. "We're challenging the traditional 'take-make-waste' model, taking a holistic approach to extend the lifecycle of our resources. While we're encouraged by our progress, we recognize the complexity of the challenge ahead. Our journey towards true circularity requires ongoing innovation and collaboration, and we're committed to this critical work for the benefit of our business, customers, and the planet."

AWS’s efforts to expand circularity throughout its operations are part of a broader push by Amazon to help tackle climate change, biodiversity loss, and other global challenges by decoupling economic activity from the consumption of finite resources. Teams across AWS and Amazon, and specialized waste companies and our suppliers, collaborate to implement a comprehensive circular economy roadmap that spans AWS's entire value chain, from design to end-of-life.

Here’s an inside look at AWS’s three-pillar strategy to embrace circularity efforts within its data centers and help make AI more sustainable.

Design Better

An employee using an electric power drill to work on a server rack.

We can unlock the most potential for circularity through better design practices. That means eliminating excess materials, designing to extend the lifetime of our hardware and equipment, enabling repair and reuse, and using recycled and safer materials from the start.

For example, AWS is working with suppliers to increase recycled or bio-based plastic content to be at least 30% in plastic server rack components. In 2023, AWS began transitioning to plastic containing recycled and biobased content in parts including air ducts, power distribution board covers, card holders, solid state drive (SSD) carriers and more. Moving forward, we are exploring additional opportunities to leverage design to extend the lifetime of hardware and equipment, scale repair and reuse, and increase materials recovery at end-of-use.

Operate Longer

When we use equipment for as long as operationally efficient, we reduce the carbon footprint associated with manufacturing and using new hardware, while also avoiding unnecessary waste.

We focus on robust maintenance to maximize the operating life of AWS's data center equipment and infrastructure. We announced earlier this year that AWS’s average expected server lifetime had improved from five to six years. Additionally, we are scaling a program that extends the lifespan of Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) hard disk drives (HDDs) by up to two years through consolidation of functional drives. AWS prioritizes keeping functional drives in use for as long as possible, avoiding early retirement of healthy and working hard drives. Since 2023, this has let us avoid the purchase of more than 295,000 new hard drives, reducing the associated carbon footprint, costs, and waste.

Recover More

Finally, AWS aims to continuously improve repair, reuse, and recycling practices to recover more value from decommissioned assets. AWS uses Amazon’s re:Cycle Reverse Logistics hubs to assess, repair, and recirculate used equipment into inventory or sell it to third parties for reuse. Items that cannot be reused are recycled to keep materials out of landfills. These recovery efforts are paying dividends. Since 2023, 23.5 million components have been recycled or sold on the secondary market.

These three strategic pillars–Design Better, Operate Longer, Recover More–anchor our efforts to drive toward an increasingly circular, more resource-efficient model for our data centers.

Learn more about Amazon’s sustainability work and how we're designing AWS data centers.