Looking for Refurbished Computers?: ICT Update's Bimonthly Web Magazine Can Help
by Maria Jett | September 12, 2007 at 11:46 AM
refurbished.jpgSource: dgCommunities Online Resources
http://home.developmentgateway.org/
"ICT Update, an ICT4D bimonthly web magazine recently published an issue focusing on refurbished computers. The magazine warms Development practitioners and citizens on consequences of electronic equipment increasingly present in our rubbish dumps, "with old PCs causing particular concern as they contain several toxic substances". According to the editorial, millions of working computers are stored in basements or, worse, end up in landfill sites with potentially damaging consequences for the environment.
To reduce environmental impact of new technologies, there is a necessity to implement initiatives and processes to refurbish computers. Sometimes for the benefit of NGOs and schools. ICT Update introduces a set of projects of high interest, from Kenya, to Trinidad and Tobago, Namibia or Uganda: "Some, such as Computer Aid, collect donated computers, refurbish them, and then ship them directly to their partners. Others, such as Computers for Schools Kenya or SchoolNet Namibia, buy old PCs and refurbish them, and then pass them on to schools and colleges where they can last another three or four years."
The most alarming consequence might be that many old computers are dumped, not in the countries where they originated, but in developing countries. According to an article introducing the "Clean Up Campaign" in Trinidad and Tobago, "the dumping of old electronic equipment is now turning some areas of China, India and Nigeria into environmental disaster zones."
If you want to learn about this crucial issue and also how to get involved (by offering your old PCs for example), please take a look at ICT Update's articles and Web resources in the related fields of dumping electronic equipment and refurbishing computers.
ICT Update Web magazine, published by CTA, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (ACP-EU), is a Cooperating Organization of the ICT4D dgCommunity. We regularly introduce its articles and issues.
Read this highlight visiting:
http://topics.developmentgateway.org/ict/highlights/default/showMore.do?intcmp=916"
