{"id":3603,"date":"2011-04-20T12:47:41","date_gmt":"2011-04-20T19:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unrbep.org\/?p=3603"},"modified":"2011-04-20T12:47:41","modified_gmt":"2011-04-20T19:47:41","slug":"donating-surplus-pcs-protects-environment-%e2%80%93-and-closes-digital-divide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/donating-surplus-pcs-protects-environment-%e2%80%93-and-closes-digital-divide\/","title":{"rendered":"Donating Surplus PCs Protects Environment \u2013 and Closes Digital Divide"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The drive for newer, faster, better technology is generating dramatic gains in productivity \u2013 but serious environmental impacts as well. Due in large part to high-profile <a href=\"http:\/\/redemtech.com\/asset-recovery-tipping-point.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">media coverage<\/a>, most people have seen images of children playing in smoldering, <a href=\"http:\/\/redemtech.com\/cbs_video.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">toxic e-waste dumps<\/a> in developing countries. Since about 80 percent of e-waste collected for recycling ends up in these dumps \u2013 much of it from businesses \u2013 keeping discarded electronics out of this toxic trade is key issue for ensuring corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability.<\/p>\n<p>Donating surplus PCs \u2013 when properly managed \u2013 helps reduce the environmental impact of IT by extending the useful life of equipment. At the same time, effective donations of used PCs magnify philanthropic giving by helping people, schools and community organizations that desperately need technology \u2013 but can\u2019t afford it.<\/p>\n<p>Taking action to address the \u201cdigital divide\u201d is an important CSR priority. In today\u2019s digital society, a home computer plays the role of library, post office, tutor, bank, newspaper, employment agency, medical advisor, match maker and much more. Yet one in four U.S. homes \u2013 or 28 million households \u2013 lacks a PC. And more than 13 million PCs are needed by U.S. nonprofits to streamline operations and expand services.<\/p>\n<p>Directing even a small portion of surplus IT to this cause could have a dramatic impact. According to Gartner, U.S. businesses replace approximately 40 million computers every year \u2013 and about 75 percent of this equipment is four years old or less, meaning it has plenty of useful life remaining. Yet more than half is stowed away in warehouses and closets or discarded. Only 3 percent is donated, and many of these computers are \u201cgifted\u201d to charities without proper testing, repairs and legally-licensed software.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.environmentalleader.com\/2011\/04\/20\/donating-surplus-pcs-protects-environment-%E2%80%93-and-closes-digital-divide\/\" target=\"_blank\">Read the complete article at Environmental Leader<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The drive for newer, faster, better technology is generating dramatic gains in productivity \u2013 but serious environmental impacts as well. Due in large part to high-profile media coverage, most people have seen images of children playing in smoldering, toxic e-waste dumps in developing countries. Since about 80 percent of e-waste collected for recycling ends up &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/donating-surplus-pcs-protects-environment-%e2%80%93-and-closes-digital-divide\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Donating Surplus PCs Protects Environment \u2013 and Closes Digital Divide<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3603"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3604,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3603\/revisions\/3604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unrbep.org\/dealerportal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}