Behind the Scenes at Agilico: What We Learned About Sustainable IT
Our IT apprentice’s perspectives
In May, we visited Agilico in Edinburgh with Ross Garnier, Service Delivery Manager, to see what sustainable IT looks like in real life. As IT Services apprentices, it was a chance to get away from the desk for the day, meet the people behind the service, and understand how reuse, circular IT, refurbishment and great customer service all fit together.
Agilico has been the University’s Managed Print Service Provider since 2025, and the visit helped us see how a managed service can support both day-to-day operations and bigger environmental goals. It also gave us a few surprises along the way, including printer parts with second lives, biodegradable packaging and a lunch where a zero food waste approach was taken with the sweet treats.
What stood out from the tour?
Keir Hargreaves, Apprentice IT/AV Support Technician
The tour gave us a brilliant look at both sides of the service: the people supporting customers and the technical work happening behind the scenes. We visited the service desk, warehouse, recycling centre, programming area and refurbishment workshop, so it felt like we got the full picture rather than just one part of the process.
The refurbishment workshop was a highlight. Seeing printers opened up made it much easier to understand how the different parts work together, and it showed how much care goes into getting a device ready to be used again. It also made reuse feel much more practical, because you could actually see where parts are recovered and given another life.
I already knew Agilico cared about sustainability, but I had not realised how far that goes. If a printer cannot be refurbished, it is dismantled so parts can be reused and other materials can be recycled. Even the lunch followed the same theme, with the sweet treats passed round more than once to avoid food waste. Naturally, I was happy to help with that part.
Monica Cecil, Digital Workplace Assistant
What stood out to me was how sustainability is treated as part of everyday work, not as an extra task on the side. The refurbishment process was a really clear example of that, especially hearing that it helps avoid over 80,000 kg of waste each year.
I also liked seeing how sustainability can make financial sense. Reusing good parts, extending the life of equipment and avoiding unnecessary replacements can reduce costs over time. One example that stuck with me was printer drums, which can be expensive to replace, so using perfectly good recovered parts is both practical and responsible.
It was also lovely to meet people face to face, including Raymond, who I had only spoken to digitally before. It was a good reminder that technology is important, but relationships still matter.
Ornob Gomes, Apprentice IT Service Desk Analyst
The visit was genuinely eye-opening. I was impressed by how much thought goes into everything, from large-scale refurbishment down to things like packaging materials. It showed that small choices and big processes can all add up.
I also found it interesting that Agilico uses local engineers and equips them with spare parts, helping reduce repeat journeys while keeping service standards high. That was a good example of sustainability and customer service working together rather than competing with each other.
The range of printers was also surprising, from devices printing around 30 pages per minute to others reaching 80 to 90 pages per minute. The refurbished devices were finished to a really high standard, and I liked learning that old plastic panels can be recycled and turned into things like gardening tools. That is definitely not what I expected to learn from a printer tour.
How will we use what we learned?
Keir: I will be more mindful about printing and will encourage others to think before pressing print. Seeing tools that show paper use in terms of environmental impact, such as trees consumed, made the message feel much more real. I will also be thinking about where reuse and spare parts could help extend the life of equipment in our own work.
Monica: I will use this learning when creating and supporting user-facing content. It has helped me think about how to explain sustainability in a clear, practical way, showing both the environmental benefits and the longer-term value.
Ornob: I will focus on promoting recycling and refurbishment wherever I can. The visit showed me that reducing environmental impact does not mean lowering quality; if anything, it can support better, smarter services.
Our final reflection
The day at Agilico was a great reminder that sustainable IT is not just about recycling at the end of a product’s life. It is about designing services, habits and processes that make reuse easier, reduce waste and still deliver a high-quality experience for users.
For us as apprentices, the best part was seeing real examples up close and being able to ask questions. It made sustainability feel practical, achievable and connected to the work we do every day in IT Services.
We came away feeling positive, more informed and more motivated to make small improvements in our own roles. Whether that is encouraging mindful printing, creating clearer content, supporting refurbishment or simply asking “could this be reused?”, the visit gave us ideas we can take forward.
Visit Agilico’s website, where you can hear more from our team about the University’s experience with Agilico and Agilico Zero Devices, which have helped to reduce the University’s carbon emissions.