Children's charity wants IT kit

HP is encouraging Hertfordshire residents to donate their old IT equipment to charity.

The printer manufacturer has teamed up with the Hertfordshire Waste Aware Partnership to set up a range of recycling events where people can hand over unwanted computers, monitors, printers, mobile phones, digital cameras and scanners.

The equipment will go to the children’s charity NCH, which will put some of it in its centres.

If the products are more than two years old or in poor condition, HP will resell refurbished items to charitable or voluntary organisations that cannot afford new IT equipment.

Any equipment that cannot be refurbished will be given to Maxitech, which will pull it apart and sell on the spares to fund its Employer IT hardware training programme. This scheme has been created to help disadvantaged people gain nationally recognised computer qualifications.

Equipment that cannot be reused will be recycled.

Although any products donated will be refurbished, HP said that it will not be responsible for deleting any personal information on devices such as hard disks. People are advised to clear all personal details and confidential information from their equipment before disposal.

Hertfordshire Waste Partnership chairman Derrick Ashley said: “We’re keen for people to recycle or reuse as much as possible, schemes like this make it really easy for people to do so, and they can do it with the knowledge that their unwanted goods can be put to good use.”

The recycling events will start on 20 January in Abbots Langley, then move to Hemel Hempstead on 27 January, to Hitchin for 2-3 February and Hertford for 9-10 February. People are advised to visit the Waste Aware website for more locations and times.