Reuse and Recycling

Over the last few years, sending second-hand computer equipment to developing countries has been developing very considerably, in a non-organised, non-concentrated way without complying with environmental standards. According to the Gartner studies institute, we have just gone over the level of possessing one billion PCs in activity on our planet.

Once again according to Gartner, over 180 million PCs will be replaced. An estimate states that over 35 million will be thrown away into the countryside without any precautions being taken concerning the toxic products they contain. The volume of IT waste is growing by 3 to 5% every year, which leads to an insidious increase in the presence of pollutants in the environment. Therefore, re-use, a solution for extending the service life of computer equipment, is an interesting alternative to producing new equipment and puts a limit on the environmental and health impact made by the electronic waste generated by accelerated production and recycling cycles. As a result, it promotes a reduction in the ecological imprint left by computer equipment. The European directive on the D3E opens new perspectives for an interdependent social economy, by generating new social employments in a computer equipment reconditioning network resolutely turned towards sustainable development.

In this context, structures promoting economic integration (“Ateliers sans frontiers”, “Les ateliers du bocage”, “ecodair”) are working on computer equipment re-use in a solidarity context and in this are enabling large numbers of non-integrated persons to find a job.

New perspectives for sustainable re-use of computer equipment in a solidarity context

In a joint action, the Fund, the World Digital Solidarity Agency and their partners propose to set up a new network for re-using and recycling computer equipment in order to satisfy the enormous requirements amongst underprivileged communities. This new network will promote systematic re-use of functional computer equipment up-line and recycling electronic waste that is definitively out-of-service under good environmental conditions down-line. It is also important to note the re-use promotes e-inclusion due to reducing equipment costs which increases the possibilities of distributing equipment amongst the most resourceless.

  • Action for re-use: ordi2.0
  • A project for optimising electronic waste recycling in developing countries : The eWaste project