‘ Circular Centers’ exceed reuse targets as rare earth recovery scales
SUSTAINABILITY
MICROSOFT
‘ Circular Centers’ exceed reuse targets as rare earth recovery scales
Microsoft achieved a 90.9 % reuse and recycling rate for servers and components in 2024, surpassing its 90 % target a full year ahead of the 2025 deadline.
The milestone forms part of the company’ s commitment to become zerowaste by 2030, supported by the Circular Centers programme that processes decommissioned data centre hardware.
Since opening its first such facility in Amsterdam in 2020, Microsoft has expanded to sites across the United States, Ireland and Singapore, with new centres planned for Cardiff, New South Wales and San Antonio.
The company successfully reused over 3.2 million components in 2024, representing a 30 % increase in value recovery year-on-year.
Circular Centers sort, test and channel hardware for internal reuse, resale or donation to skills training academies, creating economic opportunities in local communities.
Microsoft has also pioneered rare earth element recovery from hard disk drives, collaborating with recycling partners to process approximately 50,000 pounds of obsolete storage using an acid-free method that achieves 90 % material yield whilst cutting emissions by 95 % compared to traditional extraction.
“Zero waste by 2030 is a cornerstone of our sustainability strategy”
Rani Borkar,
Corporate Vice President of Azure Hardware Systems
and Infrastructure,
Microsoft
186 December 2025