Opinion: Pima County must address electronic waste in new data center regulations

As Pima County considers new zoning standards for large data centers, public debate has focused primarily on their enormous demands for electricity and water. Yet another environmental impact deserves attention: the substantial amounts of solid waste and discarded electronic equipment these facilities generate throughout their lifetimes.

Data centers are more than buildings filled with computers. They are industrial-scale facilities containing servers, networking equipment, batteries, cooling systems, electrical components and miles of wiring. As technology advances, operators periodically replace this equipment, creating a recurring stream of electronic waste.

A data center’s environmental footprint begins long before its first server is installed. Construction requires substantial quantities of concrete, steel, wiring, plastics, packaging and other materials. Once operational, facilities continue to consume resources through maintenance, upgrades and equipment replacement.

Servers and other electronic equipment contain valuable materials, including copper, aluminum, steel and other metals. Manufacturing these products requires energy, water and raw materials. When usable equipment is discarded prematurely, much of the value and resources invested in its production are lost.

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence adds urgency to this concern. Growing demand for computing power is driving investment in new equipment and facilities, potentially accelerating the generation of electronic waste. The challenge is not simply how to recycle discarded equipment, but how to prevent waste in the first place.

Pima County is developing special zoning standards because large data centers have impacts that differ significantly from conventional commercial development. The proposed amendment addresses energy, water, noise, backup power and land use. Waste reduction and materials management deserve similar consideration.

As a condition of approval, every large data center should be required to prepare and implement a Waste Reduction and Materials Management Plan.

The plan should address construction, operations, equipment replacement, and eventual decommissioning. It should establish measurable waste-reduction goals and explain how materials will be reused, repaired, refurbished, recycled or responsibly disposed of. Operators should also report annually on the quantities of materials generated, reused, recycled and sent to landfills.

Recycling is important, but it should not be the first option for managing discarded electronics. The zero-waste hierarchy is straightforward: reduce, reuse, repair, refurbish, recycle and dispose only as a last resort. Extending the useful life of servers and networking equipment conserves valuable materials and reduces demand for newly manufactured products.

Equipment that no longer meets a large data center’s computing requirements may still be useful elsewhere. Repair, refurbishment, resale and reuse should therefore take priority over recycling. While recycling recovers some valuable materials, it does not eliminate the environmental impacts associated with manufacturing replacement equipment.

The County should also require decommissioning and materials-recovery plans. When a data center closes, its servers, batteries, cooling systems, wiring and building materials must be responsibly managed. These plans should be mandatory, not discretionary, and identify opportunities for reuse and recycling before demolition or disposal.

Pima County has an opportunity to establish data center standards that address the full material footprint of these facilities. If data centers become a significant new category of industrial development, conserving materials should be as important as conserving energy and water.

Waste prevention, equipment reuse, recycling, transparent reporting and responsible decommissioning should be conditions of approval — not voluntary promises made after construction begins.

Data centers should be accountable not only for the electricity and water they consume, but also for the materials they use and the waste they leave behind.