John Fitzsimons, CEO of Camara Education, gives Irish President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina Higgins a tour of Camara's new computer refurbishment centre in Chapelizod, Dublin
Of the 500,000 computers disposed of each year, as many as half could be refurbished, revealed Camara, the social enterprise that refurbishes computers for use in education in disadvantaged communities in Ireland, Africa and the Caribbean.
Camara, which officially opened its computer reuse centre in Chapelizod, Dublin, yesterday, also found from a survey that three in every 10 organisations consider reuse when disposing of IT equipment.
What’s more, Camara also discovered that businesses could help educate up to 2m children if their old computer equipment was donated for reuse.
“It is senseless that 500,000 computers are being destroyed every year when half of these could be reused in schools that cannot afford to buy new technology,” said John Fitzsimons, CEO of Camara Education.
“We need Irish businesses to take the lead and insist that computers are reused for education.”
Camara itself has improved disadvantaged communities’ access to technology, said Irish President Michael D Higgins, who attended the opening yesterday.
“Camara has made significant inroads in improving access to technology for disadvantaged communities by helping to close the well-known ‘digital divide,’ enabling citizens to participate in their society,” Higgins said.
Camara arranges the collection of IT equipment from organisations and removes data from the old computers to US Department of Defence standards. Relevant certification is also provided to verify the process.
