AI-powered robots are helping AWS extend the life of data center electronics

Amazon Web Services today shared that it has successfully integrated AI-powered robots into its system for reusing and recycling used electronics from its massive data center network.

The tech giant has teamed up with robotics startup Molg, which is building machines that visually inspect the devices, assess their functionality, and then delicately disassemble or “de-manufacture” components that can be deployed for other uses, sold to third-parties or recycled.

Almost a year ago, Amazon invested in Molg’s $10 million seed round through its $2 billion Climate Pledge Fund.

Molg’s objective is to make the responsible processing of decommissioned electronics better, faster and cheaper than can be accomplished through human efforts alone. For AWS, it’s already generating benefits.

“The useful life of these items is being extended by a year or two. We’re recovering more than we ever have previously. We’re reusing more of it,” said Nick Ellis, a principal with the Climate Pledge Fund. By automating this process, he added, “there’s a chance to make a significant impact on our carbon footprint.”

The AI boom is straining Amazon’s sustainability ambitions with data center demands for energy, water and the creation of giant volumes of electronic waste. The company has pledged to shrink its carbon emissions to net zero by 2040, but reported in July that its carbon footprint grew by 6% last year.

Amazon does not disclose how many data centers it operates, but experts estimate there are currently about 10,000 data centers worldwide, with AWS operating hundreds of facilities globally. The computing centers are packed with electronics, which last five to six years for Amazon before they’re decommissioned.

Discarded electronics are the fastest-growing waste stream worldwide and only 22% of used electronics are recycled, while the bulk goes to landfills. That comes to about $62 billion of material value being lost annually, according to the United Nations.

Amazon is trying to address this global challenge. When AWS electronics are decommissioned, the items are collected and processed by re:Cycle Reverse Logistics, which is a stand-alone company within Amazon.

Molg has installed its machines at a Reverse Logistics site in Pennsylvania. The startup is currently manufacturing “tens” of devices and is ramping up operations. Reverse Logistics has additional locations in Kentucky, Dublin and Singapore and there are plans to incorporate Molg robots as they’re available at sites worldwide.

The partnership with Amazon is “a real gift,” said Rob Lawson-Shanks, Molg’s CEO. “You have an amazing customer that has the largest cloud infrastructure in the world, and has the ability to deliver meaningful funding and capital.”

Molg, which is based in Northern Virginia, launched in 2021 and has 35 employees.

Outside of Molg, there are few automated solutions for handling this e-waste, and alternative approaches have historically been “smash and grab,” said Lawson-Shanks, which skips over the possibility of reuse and goes straight to recycling raw materials.

“It’s all about how do you take this equipment and redeploy it at its highest value,” he said, “and create that circular economy that we’re all working so hard to achieve.”

Last year Amazon was able to take 16% of its data center components from its reuse inventory, said Manju Murugesan, global circular economy lead for AWS.

“Having Molg robotics at our reverse logistics hubs in the U.S. is just a starting point for us to figure out how can we bump up those figures,” she said.

The company didn’t share how the reuse and recycling strategies pencil out financially, but said the approach has both economic and environmental value.

Amazon and Microsoft also have invested in a company called Cyclic Materials that recovers rare earth elements and magnets from recycled electronics.

One of the benefits of the Molg system is its AI underpinnings create a path for easily training the technology to handle a variety of electronics. The company has a separate $6.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy to tackle laptop disassembly and recycling.

The Molg robots at the Reverse Logistics facility are being used for processing servers and hard disk drives, and there are options for expanding to other devices such as memory sticks and networking cards, Ellis said.

“There’s a lot of other valuable hardware sitting around,” he added.