Waste Reduction
The most effective strategy to increase circularity is to avoid producing waste in the first place. CyrusOne employs several strategies in our construction and operations to reduce our waste materials. Our largest source of waste comes from the construction of our data centers. In daily operations, our most significant waste stream is the batteries for our UPS systems. Therefore, these factors provide the best opportunities to increase our circularity through waste reduction.
In our office spaces and our data center facilities, we employ many paperless processes. Several of our standard business processes have been transitioned to paperless systems. Two examples with major impacts are our contracts system and our commissioning documentation. By transitioning from paper to electronic formats, we are (in our own small way) realizing the potential of dematerialization that data centers can offer to the economy at large.
One technique that we have used to improve the circularity of our construction practices is through “upstreaming” construction so more of it happens at the manufacturer rather than on the construction site. This seemingly simple change in support of our innovative modular construction techniques means that each manufacturer’s waste stays with the manufacturer, where they can better manage it in bulk.
For example, during construction, a process may generate a remnant 5-foot carbon steel pipe. If this fabrication occurred at the construction site, the pipe remnant would most likely end up in the recycling bin since the opportunities to reuse it would be limited. At a high-volume manufacturing facility, however, there are many more opportunities for that pipe section to be used.
The most significant part of our operational waste stream is the spent lead-acid batteries that power our Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) systems. For our traditional UPS systems (the majority of our sites), the batteries must be replaced every 5-7 years, and our spent batteries are recycled by our battery service provider. We are researching how to reduce this waste by upgrading our UPS technology. Our pilot project at two New York Metro area data centers replaced our standard lead-acid (VLRA) UPS system with an advanced lithium-ion UPS system. Lithium-ion batteries have a much longer expected lifespan of at least 15 years and 95% of their materials can be recycled into new batteries, allowing us to build operational resilience while significantly reducing battery waste. These two projects resulted in the diversion of 84 short tons of lead battery waste.
