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'Each donated PC will help 100 kids': Charity boss appeals to channel for unwanted PCs and laptops

The ITSA Digital Trust helps transform the lives and career prospects of thousands of children in Africa and create opportunities for isolated and disadvantaged people in the UK

A tech upcycling charity is hoping to enlist the channel in its goals to eliminate e-waste and prevent tonnes of reusable PCs and laptops heading to landfill.

Cheltenham-based ITSA Digital Trust has to date rescued 128,000 devices from landfill and has helped 2,600 schools across East Africa in countries such as Malawi, Kenya, Zambia and Zimbabwe get connected.

It currently processes around 600 machines each month, but is keen to increase this number with the channel's help.

Ideally, donated equipment would be no more than five and six years old, giving it many more years of life once refurbished.

The charity works with non-government organisations (NGOs) in each African country to set up IT labs (pictured) with up to 45 fully working networked computers, printers, a projector along with a laptop for the teacher.

Geoffrey Newsome, CEO of ITSA Digital Trust, explained: "We have relationships with organisations across East Africa that help us get the computers into schools. We also raise funds to provide the teachers with training so they can teach and learn how to use programmes like publisher and photoshop and many more.

"Unemployment is extremely high in Africa, and we help give these children access to vital IT skills training and essential knowledge that they can use to get jobs and build a better life for themselves. So far we have trained 1,900 teachers and helped over six million African children get access to a computer."

Closer to home, the charity also works with local communities, donating machines to community groups. It has so far helped 30,000 people in the UK, and also works with UK prisoners via a rehabilitation scheme where they help to clean up and test donated hardware offline. ITSA then installs Windows 10 or 11 (depending on the machine) before each machine is shipped to its selected destination.

"Over 1,000 volunteers have helped us in the UK. In addition, we have trainers who help people free of charge to improve their IT skills and access to technology," Newsome said.

According to recycling organisation Material Focus, the UK threw away nearly half a billion small electrical items in the past year, and over 100,000 tonnes of waste electrical items, including laptops and PCs are still thrown away each year.

"So much IT equipment is still going to landfill. We are looking to take laptops, desktop PCs, flatscreen monitors, keyboards and mice, power leads and graphics cards - anything we can reuse," Newsome said. "All our devices go through a stringent selection procedure, they are barcoded so we can track them. We also wipe all data using specialist software."

Newsome said it would be great if more IT resellers could consider ITSA when looking to dispose of their customers' or even their own unwanted IT equipment.

"We also dream of IT vendors being able to donate any unwanted new devices, batteries or kit that they don't need anymore," Newsome added. "While many of the larger players might have their own schemes, there is plenty of unwanted technology out there that we can give a new lease of life to."

To find out more about working with ITSA Digital Trust, visit their website here.