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eReuse.org: Commons Resources for reusing digital devices ensuring final recycling
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eReuse.org outcomes aligned to EU action plan for the circular economy
A team of volunteers, activists, and researchers at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya has created eReuse.org.
EU project eReuse.org have develop the mature, open-source, decentralised, local, scalable tools and services to aligned to EU action plan for the circular economy, specifically points 6, 8, 9, 10, 13a, 17, 18, 20, 21. eReuse.org outcomes are aligned to EU action plan for the circular economy to effectively ‘close the loop’ and achieve a transition to a Circular Economy where the value of products, materials and resources is maintained in the economy for as long as possible, and the generation of waste minimised. eReuse.org tools and services are appropriate measures to improve the durability, reparability, reusability, upgradability and ensure traceability for recyclability of products. Reusers have support tools to report further reuses and to finally recycle them at authorised points. eReuse.org enable markets for circular products and services and generates data that enables a transition towards a fully circular economy by building the knowledge base for environmental action and sustainability. Researchers, citizens, companies, and governments can access to reliable, timely and understandable information regarding the environmental characteristics of products and services can help make informed choices based on verifiable and transparent information.
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Now there are open tools and standards that can assist in the preparation for reuse process (hardware rating and testing, deletion of data, inventory, labeling, and packaging), certification of the reusability potential of digital devices, and traceability until recycling. These tools could improve efficiency, as only products with a high potential for reuse may be donated, and the remaining will be recycled. In our experience, productivity with network boot can reach at least 20 devices per operator and hour. Donors and receivers can also contribute reducing costs if they perform some tasks as preparation for reuse and track until recycling. [:]
[:en]eReuse CHEST – EU Project[:]
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Reusing working computers is significantly more sustainable than recycling or disposal. In addition it can deliver wider economic and social benefits. The donation of reusable Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) can support social digital exclusion programmes, encouraging the creation of local employment and reducing electronics waste. The Computer Re-use initiative proposed by the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya aims at creating an ‘open community’ around the reuse of digital devices. This includes the development of an integrated set of software tools and online web sites to support the lifecycle of digital devices: from registration and labeling of new devices, preparation (data clean-up, pre-install), matching demand and offer, tracking reuse.[:]
[:en]Reuse Workshop[:]
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Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain) has a service-learning reuse program (reutilitza.upc.edu). More than 500 students each year are introduced to eReuse.org. On this session participate 30 students preparing for reuse more than 40 computers in less than one hour. They are trained in Device Inventory, a software to assist the diagnostic and inventory of digital devices. Computers are boot by network and a program runs in unattended way that test performs a hardware test, capture hardware characteristics for rating and serial number for traceability and reporting.[:]
Mobile Commons Congress
eReuse.org and UPC BarcelonaTech hosts Mobile Commons Congress. This year we will emphasize technological systems management pro-common goods, which are those that are shared in a community. We will be attended by experts in the field of reuse and cooperation in ICT as Leandro Navarro, a researcher and professor at the UPC as well as being the coordinator of the UPC in the European research project NetCommons.eu. He will talk about the concept of “commons” from various examples in the field of reuse of computer equipment and network infrastructure community (guifi.net).
Training on eReuse.org Tools
On 9 October we conduct training to target groups to validate the degree of compliance with the functional and nonfunctional requirements. The session trained technicians on eReuse.org tools focused on inventory, testing, certified data erasure and labeling digital devices. There were over 50 attendees and assessment was very satisfactory.
Best paper award
We participated on enviroInfo2015.org, the 29th International Conference on Informatics for Environmental Protection, under the topic “Building the knowledge base for environmental action and sustainability”. Target groups where researchers, decision makers, and domain experts on areas such as environmental agencies, environmental science, consultants and anybody concerned about the state of the environment and interested in the application of ICT for sustainable development.
Our paper “Breaking Barriers on Reuse of Digital Devices Ensuring Final Recycling” and poster “eReuse.org: an ecosystem for traceable reuse of digital devices in a circular economy” were accepted. The paper won the Best Paper Award out of 36 peer-reviewed papers from the EnviroInfo2015.org conference. It was presented in a plenary hall and discussed following a ConverStation format, with each presenter presenting their results to a table of 6-8 attendees and leading a discussion with them, repeating this 3-4 times with different groups of people. The feedback was very positive about this approach, leading to more valuable conversations than traditional presentations.
Long Life electronics
We present the poster we submitted in EnviroInfo 2015.
Digital Devices or Electric and Electronic Equipment (EEE) are scrapped at an alarming rate instead of being salvaged, fixed, and reused. For the reuse sector to flourish, donors, receivers and reuse centers need services and technologies to gain effectiveness, efficiency, and traceability to ensure final recycling. In this poster we present a set of open source tools based on a distributed platform ecosystem that enable direct donation of devices. Traceable devices are prepared to be reused in the donor’s location, and receivers are responsible for collecting them. This reduces costs, minimizes EEE losses because there is no need for central logistic or centralizing the engagement of donors on charity projects.