CLIENT CASE
Lifecycle Management – Höganäs Municipality (SE)
Höganäs municipality goes circular
Sustainability is a strategic priority for Höganäs municipality, guided by an environmental programme that sets clear expectations for responsible consumption and investment. Within the IT department, this ambition has been translated into practical action through a circular system for managing mobile phones – delivering tangible benefits for the environment, municipal finances and daily operations.
Putting sustainability into practice can be challenging, but Höganäs has found a model that works without compromising functionality or accessibility. At the core is a circular process that makes it easy for departments to make sustainable choices. Employees can order either new or refurbished phones via the municipality’s e-shop, while each department pays an environ-mental deposit that encourages devices to be returned when no longer needed.
Once returned, phones are deregistered and securely wiped by the IT department before being sent to Advania. There, each device undergoes a professional refurbishing process and is either given a second life on the secondary market or recycled in a safe and responsible manner.
The biggest advantages of reuse is that we can reduce resource use in terms of the materials consumed in production.
Fredrik Seger, Sustainability developer, Höganäs Municipality
The initiative, known internally as the “Environmental Loop,” rewards sustainable behaviour. Twice a year, departments that return their devices receive their environmental deposit back, reinforcing reuse as the norm rather than the exception. The results include reduced use of finite resources, lower energy consumption linked to production and transport, and longer lifespans for IT equipment.
Collaboration with Advania has been a key success factor. Through shared expertise and access to Advania’s Dream House in Enköping – a circular logistics centre for IT equipment – the municipality continues to strengthen traceability and circularity across the entire lifecycle. In just over two years, 2,478 devices have been reused or securely disposed of, clearly demonstrating how circular IT management can support both climate targets and financial efficiency.
Number of reused devices*
• 1,624 computers
• 606 mobile phones
• 248 tablets
*from start of project
Results
• Reduced use of finite resources
• Lower carbon footprint from IT usage
• Longer lifespan for each IT device
