Computers
Environmental benefits: IT equipment accounts for 39 per cent of the 1 million tonnes of waste electronic equipment discarded by householders and commercial groups in the UK. Therefore, refurbishing and recycling computers is important to sustainable waste strategies. Dealing with this is an important issue, as electronic goods are becoming short lived.
How to recycle: there are increasing numbers of companies which collect computer equipment. Some have minimum quantities that they will collect and they may not collect very old computers. Some also sell refurbished computer equipment to schools.
Computers for Charity collects old computers free of charge and revamps them for reuse by schools, charities and voluntary groups.
Recycle-IT collects computer hardware, printers, monitors, cable and cartridges. Items are redistributed to schools and non-profit community projects.
The Second Byte Project accepts whole or part computer systems and peripherals, and also software and manuals.
Tools for Schools is a not-for-profit business and charity which takes donations of surplus commerical computers and passes them on for use in schools.
Useful links:
Waste online. Computer recyclers and refurbishers.
Team Green Britain and London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games Ltd (LOCOG) do not endorse any of the products, companies, organisations, opinions or websites that have been mentioned in this article. The content of this article has merely been provided as background to, or discussion on, various topical issues relating to the environment and it is not necessarily representative of the views of Team Green Britain and LOCOG. Further, any figures and calculations noted in this article are estimates (unless otherwise specified), and may vary in light of numerous factors and readers are advised to undertake their own research in relation to the facts and figures applicable to their particular circumstance.