An investigation shows Amazon, Microsoft, and others destroy millions of data storage devices each year, creating huge waste when software wiping methods exist
Companies like Amazon and Microsoft routinely destroy used hard drives in the name of data security — but industry insiders say there is a better option Tweets: @halvarflake , @financialtimes , @pt , @solutionicist , @alexandraheal , @rubenvezzoni , @rubenvezzoni , and @amanwy Tweets: Halvar Flake / @halvarflake : Why Big Tech shreds millions of storage devices it could reuse - https://www.ft.com/... via @FT — a good article about a situation where infosec panic leads to poor environmental decisions @financialtimes : With another 700 data centres set to be built around the world in the next three years, the question of what companies do with millions of tonnes of electrical equipment has become more important than ever. Read more here👇 https://www.ft.com/... Parker / @pt : Companies should give their old hardware to @Revivn. Get it professionally wiped, repaired if applicable, and repurposed. https://twitter.com/... Drew / @solutionicist : materiality of the cloud: Microsoft, Amazon, US, EU and UK governments SHRED their decommissioned data drives, sometimes every three to five years. Instead of simply wiping and reselling them, at least 20mn drives are destroyed annually in the US alone!!!! https://www.ft.com/... Alexandra Heal / @alexandraheal : Companies including Amazon and Microsoft are destroying millions of data storage devices — despite the existence of software that experts say can safely wipe them for reuse @AnnaSophieGross & I dug deep into data centres' electronic waste problem 🔍 https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/... Rubén Vezzoni / @rubenvezzoni : Each server is “a steel box about the size of a kitchen sink, made up of all sorts of precious metals, critical minerals and plastics”, with a lifespan of 3 to 5 years before it gets dumped in a shradder for “customer data privacy”. #Mining (un)#Sustainability #waste Rubén Vezzoni / @rubenvezzoni : And each year, more waste. Your emails, files or pictures are not stowed in a “cloud”. They require servers, millions of them. @FT https://www.ft.com/... Lee Waters MS / @amanwy : Important piece in @FT on the #circulareconomy opportunities from re-using hard drives. As well as huge energy use Data Centres are wasting enormous scarce resources by destroying devices instead of reusing https://www.ft.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Context & Ripple Effects
The Financial Times investigation lands in the middle of an already-running story about the physical footprint of cloud computing. The same companies named here have spent years competing to buy clean energy for their data centers — Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and Microsoft together draw more than 45 TWh a year — while Microsoft separately funds experiments like nonconducting-liquid server cooling to cut energy waste.
Shredding usable drives sits awkwardly against that record: insiders say software wiping can erase drives safely for reuse, yet destruction remains the default. It also echoes a broader trust problem in electronics disposal — a prior tracker-equipped laptop investigation found UK recyclers selling or losing devices meant for proper recycling.
First-order effects
- Amazon and Microsoft face a direct contradiction between their public climate commitments and a practice that turns millions of functional drives into e-waste each year, giving critics a concrete target.
- Security teams at these companies must defend a policy choice that industry insiders and experts publicly argue is unnecessary, since software wiping already exists as a safe alternative.
Second-order effects
- Demand should shift toward certified, auditable wiping tools and services, creating a market for vendors who can prove erasure well enough to replace a shredder in a compliance regime.
- A larger supply of securely wiped secondhand drives would flow into refurbishment channels, pressuring prices for reused storage and changing what data center operators buy for non-critical tiers.
Third-order effects
- If hyperscalers adopt verified erasure at scale, physical destruction stops being the industry's default data-security posture and becomes the exception reserved for the most sensitive media — with auditors and regulators setting the standard for what counts as 'wiped'.
- The pattern adds to mounting scrutiny of data center externalities, alongside grid strain documented in places like Ireland's 82-center data center economy, pushing sustainability reporting to cover hardware lifecycle rather than just energy sourcing.
The trend: Hyperscale computing is being pushed to account for its full hardware lifecycle — energy, cooling, and now device disposal — as investigators and insiders expose practices that undercut corporate climate claims.