Circular IT is “on a good track”, Omdia analyst Ben Caddy asserted at Canays Forums EMEA last week, as he gave six examples of partners leading the charge in this area.
Despite later using a keynote at the event to acknowledge that sustainability has suffered a “total system failure” in 2025, Caddy in an earlier panel session emphasised that circular IT has seen some “pretty significant developments” over the last 12 months.
Partners Omdia questioned still see repairability as the top barrier to circularity progress, Caddy said.
“If a device is not designed for circularity, it’s going to be pretty difficult to give it a long lifespan,” Caddy said, adding that on the plus side regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are clamping down on vendors here.
The grey market, along with the worries vendors have over circular IT cannibalising their sales of new IT, represent two further barriers, Caddy said.
“There are some very early changes happening here with some of the key vendors in the industry,” Caddy said of the latter challenge, referencing HP Renew and similar schemes.
“[HP and Lenovo] are starting to get involved in circularity in a new way and exploring new kinds of partnerships in the channel. They’re not just getting partners to simply resell repurposed equipment or their own as asset recovery services – they’re exploring ways of actually getting those partners to refurbish inhouse.”
Against that backdrop, Caddy drilled into six examples of partners who have made big moves on circular IT in 2025…
1. Atos
Caddy characterised Atos’ recent landmark second-user IT win with DEFRA as a “huge milestone for circularity at scale”.
The IT services giant emerged victorious in a £150m device management tender with the government department in March, with the twist being that the devices involved will be remanufactured (via Circular Computing).
2. Advania
Next up in Caddy’s sustainable sextet was Advania, whose recently opened ‘Dreamhouse’ facility has the capacity to one day refurbish one million IT devices annually.
In a press release at the time, Advania CEO Hege Störe claimed the Sweden-headquartered reseller and services outfit’s goal is to “fundamentally change how businesses think about technology”.
“25% of all the devices Advania Sweden sells are refurbished, which is unusually high. They’re seeing clear business opportunity and really investing in circularity as a key business area,” Caddy said.
3. Foxway
This circular tech solutions provider’s plans to expand its largest site in Estonia also caught Caddy’s eye.
Foxway claims it resold nearly 2.8 million electronic devices in 2024, and anticipates processing more than five million devices within the next five years in its Estonian facility alone.
4. Exertis IT
Caddy also called out the Anglo-Irish distributor for scaling its circular capability in the UK via acquisition.
Despite at the time being embroiled in a sale process itself, the distributor in April announced its purchase of Apple Authorised Service Provider Group 8. Exertis IT said the move will bolster its circular economy services business MTR, which specialises in the refurbishment and resale of mobile devices, and offers Samsung-accredited refurbished handsets.
5. 3StepIT
Caddy highlighted 3 Step IT’s expansion into France as another proof point showing circular IT is in good shape. The Nordic circular technology services outfit opened a French IT refurbishment and remarketing centre in March, via a joint venture with BNP Paribas. Capacity there could one day reach up to 400,000 reprocessed IT equipment per year.
In Caddy’s panel session, 3StepIT Senior Sales Director David Nelson claimed demand for circular IT is currently at a high point.
“We’re seeing demand in different product sets – not like a couple years ago when it was just mobile and laptop,” Nelson said.
“The demand in the datacentre space is huge at the moment and some of the growth we’ve seen geographically… the opportunity is following the demand.”
6. TD Synnex
Last up on Caddy’s radar was TD Synnex’s pact with electronics lifecycle services outfit Cordon Group. Announced this summer, the tie-up marks a “significant expansion of TD Synnex’s Renew programme, the world’s largest distributor said.
Caddy characterised it as “a significant moment for distribution in really being able to scale the scope and availability of circular IT services and refurbished devices across Europe”.
