Brent Council donates 500 PCs and laptops to Africa

Schools and hospitals in Africa are directly benefiting from over 500 PCs, laptops and monitors donated by the London Borough of Brent via Computer Aid International.  By placing the specialist charity at the heart of its IT disposal strategy, the council is enhancing its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programme and ensuring that unwanted equipment is disposed of in accordance with the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) regulations.

Using Computer Aid’s asset tracking service, Brent has been able to follow its refurbished PCs and laptops to a variety of education, healthcare and poverty-reduction projects in Africa. These include the National Health Students Association of Ghana, where IT equipment is providing Ghanaian healthcare professionals with access to a wealth of e-learning and e-health resources to equip them to handle illnesses such as AIDS and malaria, and Crescent Future Kids in Zambia, which is empowering Zambian youths with the skills to contribute positively to their nation’s economic development.  

Duncan McLeod, Director of Finance at Brent Council, says: “Ensuring the re-use of our IT equipment, rather than recycling or sending our PCs to a commercial company was behind our decision to partner with Computer Aid.  Donating is a simple process but one that can make a huge difference in developing countries. Using Computer Aid’s asset tracking service we can see the positive effect that our old equipment is having in poverty-reduction projects and actively communicate this to staff.”

Computer Aid’s professional asset disposal, compliance with WEEE legislation and stringent data wiping services were key factors in the London Borough of Brent’s decision to donate all obsolete IT equipment to the charity on an ongoing basis. Using Blancco's industry leading deletion system as part of their free PC decommissioning service, Computer Aid can guarantee 100 per cent data removal from any hard disk, which meets all recognised international data destruction standards.

 Prod Sarigianis, Business Support Manager at Brent Council, explained: “With the introduction of the WEEE directive in 2007 it was critical that we put in place an IT disposal strategy that could guarantee compliance and Computer Aid offered the perfect solution. The charity is approved by the Environment Agency and guarantees that no usable equipment goes to landfill, as well as complete data wiping. This is a high priority because of the sensitive information we hold.”

Louise Richards, CEO of Computer Aid International, commented: “The support of donors such as Brent Council is vital to our work. The provision of ICT is a primary vehicle by which the UN Millennium Development Goals, which include universal primary education, reaching marginalised groups and poverty reduction, can be met.  Computer Aid offers a straightforward yet comprehensive WEEE-compliant service which is free of charge to business donors, and we are urging other UK businesses and local authorities to follow Brent’s initiative.”

Call to action:
If you want to find out more about donating equipment to Computer Aid International, please contact them direct on 020 8361 5540 or info@computeraid.org, or visit their website: www.computeraid.org