Dell, HP, Lenovo computers earn ‘TCO Certified’ status

Desktops and notebooks from the three vendors have met stringent criteria for durability, upgradability, and recyclability.

The Lowdown: The latest TCO certification, generation 8, was launched in December 2018 with the aim of driving “responsibility and transparency in the supply chain” and enabling the “circular economy.”

The Details: Certification of the vendors’ computers expands the roster of sustainable IT products from which organizations can choose.



The TCO Certified standard covers eight product categories: desktops, notebooks, tablets, all-in-one PCs, displays, smartphones, projectors, and headsets.



According to the TCO Certified announcement, many of the sustainability issues faced by the IT industry today are tied to the relatively short life spans of IT products and the way in which they’re discarded.



Organizations can visit this Website to choose from among 3,500 products and 20 brands that are TCO Certified.

The Impact: Driven by environmental and security concerns, the growth of emerging technologies such as IoT and Big Data analytics, and infrastructure turnover resulting from cloud migrations, the market for IT asset disposition (ITAD) is flourishing.



Analysts at research firm MarketsandMarkets project that the global ITAD business will grow to $20 billion by 2022 from $10 billion in 2015 – a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of nearly 10 percent. That market value will reach more than $22 billion by 2026, according to Acumen Research and Consulting.



Standards like TCO Certified can reduce e-waste and help organizations contribute to the achievement of local, national, and global sustainability goals when making IT purchases.

The Buzz: “This is our largest step yet toward a sustainable lifecycle for IT products. The criteria in generation 8 are comprehensive and challenging and the brands that have products which comply with them show that they are serious about their ambitions in the sustainability field,” said Sören Enholm, CEO of TCO Development, the organization behind TCO Certified. “TCO Certified includes updated, driving criteria, covering the IT product’s lifecycle, and independent verification that the criteria actually are being met. It saves both time and resources for the purchasing organization.”