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Computers for all - New use instead of recycling

Initiative for work in the Diocese of Mainz

To ensure that we always achieve the special performance requirements in asset management, the high-performance computers in our departments are replaced at regular intervals. Really, they are much too good to be consigned to the recycling bin. That's what our Portfolio Manager Alexander Lippert thought and went in search of local projects that could do good with the still fully functional computers. He found what he was looking for at the ‘Initiative Arbeit im Bistum Mainz e.V’. (‘Initiative for work in the Diocese of Mainz, in Germany’). In one project, long-time unemployed adults are trained to check the functionality of used, donated computers, printers and monitors, to replace individual parts if necessary and to provide them with legally compliant software. All data on the hard drives of the computers are deleted according to a certified procedure and the donors receive a deletion protocol. The participants are trained in the use of basic IT concepts and master basic skills in the most important software applications. The refurbished computers are equipped with a current MS operating system and then given to low-income families and private individuals at a favourable price.

The project prepares the employees for a (re-)entry into the primary labour market and, at the same time, gives people without their own computer access to IT and the internet. In this way, it makes a double contribution to more equal opportunities and educational justice.