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Circular economy

How we’re accelerating the transition to a circular economy

Google is working to accelerate the transition to a circular economy in which business creates environmental, economic and community value through the maximum reuse of finite resources. Our approach to circularity is anchored around three core principles:

1. Design-out waste and pollution. This means designing for circularity from the start, enabling existing products to become future resources.

2. Keep products and materials in use. This means extending the effective life of products or materials as long as is safely possible, to make the most of all the resources that went into their creation.

3. Promote safe and healthy materials. This means designing products with materials that are safe for both people and the planet, recognizing that these materials will be used and reused long into the future.

Our impact on the circular economy cuts across all of our core business operations. It includes the data centers we build and operate to power our products, the workplaces where Googlers come together to create the next breakthrough technology, and the consumer hardware products that people use every day. Our impact also spans the entire value chain, including safer chemistry, manufacturing waste, and electronic waste recycling.

Our key efforts

Our key efforts

How we’re accelerating the transition to a circular economy

Google is working to accelerate the transition to a circular economy in which business creates environmental, economic and community value through the maximum reuse of finite resources. Our approach to circularity is anchored around three core principles:

1. Design-out waste and pollution. This means designing for circularity from the start, enabling existing products to become future resources.

2. Keep products and materials in use. This means extending the effective life of products or materials as long as is safely possible, to make the most of all the resources that went into their creation.

3. Promote safe and healthy materials. This means designing products with materials that are safe for both people and the planet, recognizing that these materials will be used and reused long into the future.

Our impact on the circular economy cuts across all of our core business operations. It includes the data centers we build and operate to power our products, the workplaces where Googlers come together to create the next breakthrough technology, and the consumer hardware products that people use every day. Our impact also spans the entire value chain, including safer chemistry, manufacturing waste, and electronic waste recycling.

Reducing data center waste

Aerial view of our Mayes County, OK data center at sunset

Zero waste to landfill

Building and operating circular workplaces and stores

Our data center in Hamina, Finland, which was formerly an abandoned paper mill

Design and construction

Chef taking stock of the pantry

Food waste

Person picks up a plastic water bottle on a sandy beach

Single-use plastics

Designing more sustainable consumer hardware products

A plastic bottle gets turned into recycled material that makes up a device

Recycled materials

Sustainable bamboo packaging

Sustainable packaging

Image of the Framework Laptop Chromebook Edition on a desk with repair tools around it

Product longevity

A worker swaps out a motherboard at our data center in The Dalles, Oregon.

E-waste recycling

Working with suppliers

Image of Nest Wifi product on a table with tabletop accessories

Manufacturing waste

Image of supplier working on a device under a microscope

Safer chemistry

Enabling others

photos of three women accompanied by text boxes reading "LGBTQ+ friendly" and "plastic bottle recycling near me"

Recycling services on Google Maps & Search

Young woman sitting on the floor of her living room on her computer

Buying pre-owned items

Cover image of a white paper titled: Closing the Plastics Circularity Gap: Full Report

featured report

Closing the Plastics Circularity Gap

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Stay informed

Read the latest news on our efforts and progress.