The Challenge
Most ICT devices from business and public administration are discarded when considered amortized our out of maintenance. Although they still have value for use and are suitable for reuse, they are scrapped (recycled) or illegally exported to other countries via informal reuse circuits.
The positive aspects of reuse are well understood; reuse effectively contributes to developing a circular economy, strengthens the creation of local employment, prevents the generation of waste, and reduces the digital divide. However, why is it such a minority practice? When companies, governments or individuals need to get rid of their computers and digital devices to have a new life (reuse), they don’t know where to turn. This results in most Electric and Electronic Equipment (EEE) being recycled even though there is an explicit demand for reuse. Public authorities and businesses are willing to promote the positive aspects of reuse, but without a traceability solution and a commitment from consumers to reused products, it is uncertain if reused digital devices may end up being exported illegally and potentially polluting the environment. Such risk and slippage are the main drawbacks in the promotion and the practice of reuse in public and private organisations. Today, most cities don’t have an ecosystem capable of avoiding the premature recycling of electronics.
Our Mission
eReuse.org’s mission is the transition towards a collaborative and circular consumption of electronics. We motivate and promote the emergence of local autonomous open platforms to reuse electronics that ensure final recycling and verifiable assessment of reuse impact. We cooperate to help sustain and grow ecosystems that increase reuse and recycling, and together, we build a new mindset and open-source tech to make the reuse/recycling tech industry more durable, reusable, repairable and impact accountable. The coalition of members and collaborators brings together the skills, training and open technologies necessary to help sustain and grow federated and autonomous platforms that optimize refurbishment, ensure the quality of second-hand electronics products and bring management in the reverse supply chain to incentivize reused devices are ultimately recycled and impact accountable. For that, we develop open-source software tools for the digitalization of the circular management of ICT devices.