Our story
Established in 1991, Stone is a provider of circular IT solutions to education, UK public sector and private sector organisations of all sizes. Our mission is to improve the education, health and quality of life of the people in the UK through technology services. Stone Group are also working towards a more sustainable future with their IT Asset Disposal, on-site 100,000 square ft recycling facility and an award-winning Stone 360 app that simplifies IT recycling.
With figures rising every year, e-waste is one of the fasting growing waste streams in the world – and it's harming our planet. E-waste contains toxic and hazardous substances that can have serious, negative impacts on human health and the environment when not disposed of in a suitable manner. As a circular IT provider, Stone Group is committed to taking responsibility for the items it sells by taking redundant IT back and giving them a second life or effectively recycling them.
In 2019 alone, the world collectively generated 53.6 million metric tonnes of e-waste; just 17.4% of this was formally and responsibly collected and recycled. The crisis is increasing too, globally e-waste has increased by 21% within just 5 years. The majority of e-waste that is not disposed of correctly ends up being dumped in some of the world's poorest counties resulting in toxic waste being released into our oceans.
According to studies by Lancaster University and the Anthesis Report, the UK generated 500,000 tonnes of unaccounted e-waste in one year, with 23.9 kilograms of e-waste per person annually, the second highest in the world. Furthermore, UK households and businesses create reusable or recyclable e-waste weighing 1.45 million tonnes per annum. Stone Group wanted to create an app that made arranging collections simple and address this issue in the UK.
Stone 360 is an IT recycling app that enables organisations to book and manage collections of their broken, old, or redundant IT at their convenience. Unwanted hardware such as old desktops, monitors, laptops, printers and servers are taken away by Stone Group to its dedicated IT recycling facility in Staffordshire, where a team of skilled engineers securely wipe all data and refurbish any items that can be given a second life and recycle any that can't, ensuring zero waste is sent to landfill in the process.
Users of Stone 360 earn recycling points which they can exchange for cash rebates, as well as plant trees and help implement sustainability projects in partnership with the National Forest. Some customers choose to take their cash rebate and donate it to their chosen charity – creating a win-win situation for everyone.
Our advice
Our approach simplifies IT lifecycle management and provides cost benefits for our customers, whilst off-setting the environmental impacts with our IT Asset Disposal service and 360 recycling app. Taking an integrated approach like this that also offers financial benefits is a very effective way to influence behaviour change.
Our Changeprint
Our Changeprint can be measured by the number of active app users who are doing something more to address unnecessary e-waste (approx 3 million users); amount in cash rebates that reward this behaviour change (approx £1.3 million); items of unwanted IT collected and diverted from the waste stream (approx 350,000); and our contribution to a more circular IT economy.
