Supported by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Irish social enterprise Camara Education is rolling out an affordable and innovative computer reuse solution to Irish schools that will address the shortfall in the use of computers in the education of our children. The education initiative will be targeted at meeting the training and computer needs of schools in disadvantaged areas.
Camara Education was set up in 2005 and works predominantly in Africa. However, the organisation is now responding to a growing domestic need to integrate computers into teaching and learning in the Irish education system by providing affordable teacher training and computer solutions to Irish schools.
The UN states that reusing a computer is 20 times more beneficial for the environment than recycling. “The reality is that at least 9 out of 10 discarded computers are never reused and are destroyed in recycling plants,” says Cormac Lynch, chief executive of Camara Education.
Head of the National Waste Prevention Programme, Dr Gerry Byrne says: “Prevention is preferable to waste management and direct re-use is an important element of prevention. The EPA National Waste Prevention Programme welcomes any initiative that gives a longer useful life to any product.”