Volunteers recover over a hundred computers for social institutions

They could have been set aside or thrown in the bin. Instead, 122 computers - with some kind of anomaly - were handed in by the community and recovered by the 70 pairs of volunteer hands who joined the municipal project ReBOOT. The equipment will now serve the needs of institutions in Porto's Social Network.

The recovery of this equipment, and its subsequent reuse to serve the community, has also led to an environmental gain with the saving of ten tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (tCo2eq).

The repair work was carried out over seven sessions and around 420 hours of training, organised by Recycle Geeks, a startup in Porto dedicated to the recovery of computer equipment with an environmentally and socially sustainable business model.

Everyone can join in, regardless of their technical or computer skills, and contribute to a circular economy. The application form can be found at the webpage of ReBOOT. The project also provides a Repair Manual

'We have to be growingly involved in these phenomena, to give electronic equipment a better destination', the vice-president Filipe Araújo, who is also the councillor for the Environment and Climate Transition, emphasises.

ReBOOT is a Municipality of Porto initiative, supported by Porto Digital, the European Recycling Platform Portugal, LIPOR and Porto Ambiente. It also has the support of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto, the Instituto Superior de Engenharia do Porto, Universidade Portucalense and UPTEC - Science and Technology Park of the University of Porto.

Under the slogan 'Repair your computer. Transform the world', the project is part of Asprela + Sustentável and is funded by the EEA Grants.