The team from Somerset CIC Donate IT will be at Frome Town Hall on Saturday 15th June from 10am to 1pm, offering another opportunity to pass on unused tech devices. The previous amnesty in January 2024 collected 500 devices that would otherwise have been left unused or gone into landfill. Many donated devices are already back in use, helping people experiencing digital exclusion. Donate IT also provide training to help people build confidence and digital skills to use their devices.
All devices are wiped of data, restored and distributed to people who need them, with any non-usable items recycled in the UK by licensed refiners and processors. 70% of the world’s toxic waste is linked to discarded tech in landfill, and the precious metals inside devices, such as copper and cobalt, can be recycled for use in new devices, which is safer, more ethical and greener than mining for them.
Donate IT founder Simon Barfoot said: “The last amnesty in January provided an amazing number of devices and we’re looking forward to coming back, hopefully with fewer layers of clothing! Most devices have a functional life of about 10 or 12 years, but people are upgrading or ending contracts in four or five, or even sooner. So there’s a product out there that can still do a job for people, that can get out into the community to someone in need. We know people are concerned about data security, so the first and most important thing we do is data destroy. We don’t look at the machines ourselves, we plug them into computers. It’s industry-standard technology – and then you have a perfectly usable, sanitised product. If you have a device you no longer use, please consider bringing it down; you could make a huge difference to someone.”
Cllr Anne Hills of Frome Town Council, who attended the January amnesty, said “The Donate IT team do such a brilliant job. In addition to the environmental benefit of reusing tech devices, we know that many people in our town feel excluded from participation with the digital world because of the cost. Getting a repurposed smartphone or tablet, plus training, free of charge, opens up opportunities for people who want to gain digital confidence, making appointments, finding work, researching the things that interest them, communicating with friends and family and much more.”
The Donate IT team will be in the car park at Frome Town Hall, off Park Road in Frome, from 10am to 1pm on Saturday 15th June, during Great Big Green Week. In the case of bad weather, the collection will move indoors; if this is the case the new indoor drop-off area will be clearly signposted from the car park. Find out more about Donate IT at https://donateit.co.uk/.
