Microsoft Hits 90.9% Reuse Rate for Server Hardware in 2024

Microsoft has surpassed its goal of reaching a 90% reuse and recycling rate for servers and components, achieving a 90.9% rate in 2024, one year ahead of schedule. This milestone marks significant progress toward the company’s broader 2030 environmental targets, which include becoming carbon negative, water positive, and protecting more land than it uses.

The early fulfillment of the zero-waste target is largely attributed to the expansion of Microsoft’s global network of Circular Centers. These facilities manage the recovery, reuse and recycling of datacenter hardware. Since the opening of its first center in Amsterdam in 2020, Microsoft has launched five additional facilities across the United States, Ireland and Singapore. New centers are under development in Wales, Australia and Texas. 

In 2024 alone, Microsoft reused more than 3.2 million components—a 30% increase in value recovery. These parts were redistributed internally, funneled into other supply chains, or allocated to technical education programs. “This achievement reflects our commitment to embedding circularity at every layer of our cloud operations,” the company stated.

Beyond hardware, Microsoft is addressing packaging waste in partnership with over 150 original equipment manufacturers. This initiative has diverted more than 2,500t of waste, sourced from over 30,000 server racks, away from landfills. The company is currently piloting reusable packaging to limit single-use materials while safeguarding equipment during global transit.

Additional efforts include investing in recyclable packaging alternatives based on paper and pulp to replace plastics that are difficult to recycle, aiming to improve the sustainability of its end-to-end cloud infrastructure. “Our goal is not just to meet targets, but to redefine what is possible in a low-impact, circular cloud economy,” Microsoft emphasized.

The company continues to align with recovery partners and suppliers to drive progress across three priority areas: rare earth mineral recovery from hard drives, global Circular Center expansion, and co-development of recyclable datacenter packaging.