Companies urged to donate end-of-life laptops and tablets to help young people

A charity organisation is urging companies and people to donate end-of-life laptops and tablets to help it run its educational programmes for young people in direct provision centres in Ireland and a displacement camp in Iraq.

SCOOP Foundation, which announced the launch of its 2022 Tech Drive, runs 90% of its SCOOP Ed educational programmes remotely, meaning laptops and tablets are vital for young people to be able to participate.

The SCOOP Ed programme provides learning opportunities for people living in direct provision centres in Ireland and to internally displaced people living in the Bajed Kandala Camp in Iraqi Kurdistan.

The programme covers topics such as job-seeking, IT, art and design, music production, English, STEM subjects and mindfulness.

As part of its 2022 Tech Drive, SCOOP will work with donors around best practice compliance to ensure that donated, decommissioned laptops and tablet computers are recycled properly, wiped of data and are no longer traceable back to the previous owner.

Commenting on the initiative, Andy Sweeney, co-founder of SCOOP, said: “Laptops and tablets are essential for running our educational programmes and without donations, we will struggle to continue our work.

“There may be companies out there that have had to decommission or upgrade their staff laptops or tablet computers recently and that are looking for a sustainable and ethical solution for disposing of retired devices that they no longer need.

“Or people may have disused devices lying around gathering dust at home. Rather than them ending up in landfills, SCOOP will happily take them off their hands, employ ITAD best practice around data and traceability wiping, refurbish them and put them in the hands of young people in need in Ireland and Iraqi Kurdistan.”

To find out more about the SCOOP Foundation’s 2022 Tech Drive and how you can donate unwanted laptops or tablets, email [email protected].