Microsoft’s Breakthrough in Circularity Through Advanced Reverse Logistics

In 2024, they hit a 90.9% reuse and recycling rate for servers and data center components - a full year ahead of their 2025 goal. That’s not just impressive - it’s difficult to pull off. Here’s why:

1. Limited end-to-end visibility - Most supply chains lose sight of materials once a product is sold. To enable true circularity, companies need real-time tracking of components - location, usage history, condition - something most supply chains aren’t designed to do.

2. Reverse logistics is underdeveloped - Most supply chains are optimized for getting goods to customers, not the other way around.

Circularity requires robust reverse logistics - systems for collecting used products, transporting them back, and disassembling or refurbishing them.

This can involve new partners, new transportation flows, and higher costs, especially if the return volume is unpredictable.

Achieving this is even harder when you’re working across global, fragmented, and traditionally linear supply chains.