Computers given new lease of life

Computers that would have otherwise gone to waste have been recycled by Glasgow Caledonian University for a community project in Ayrshire.

GCU Sustainability Officer Paulo Cruz secured nine machines from the University’s computer hardware waste contractors, CCL (North) Ltd, to be recycled for a community engagement project to be run by Applied Computer Games Lecturer, Bryan Young.

Bryan is a volunteer with the Tsukure Hub, a social enterprise company in Ayr, and he will use the computers to teach programming to 12-17-year olds.

Community and Public Engagement Coordinator Susan Grant connected Bryan and Paulo and is also supporting the initiative by providing licences which will allow the recycled computers to be used for the purposes of this project and be of wider use to the service-users of the Tsukure Hub.

Susan said: “I am really pleased that, as part of our civic mission, we have been able to support Bryan to upskill young people in Ayrshire. It is also an opportunity to raise awareness of courses at GCU and build links with a new community partner who are committed to addressing inequality.”

Paulo said: “One of the reasons GCU chooses CCL (North) as its electrical waste contractor is because they refurbish redundant computers for re-use whenever possible, rather than simply shredding them and recycling the constituent parts. In a typical year, CCL (North) refurbish around 30% of computers collected from GCU and the Tsukure Hub was a unique opportunity to extend their use through a project with such close links to GCU. Refurbishing computers and other equipment is one of the many ways the University is reducing the amount of waste it produces by aligning its operations with the circular economy.”