Brighton & Hove City Council, Freegle, SOENECS and EraseMy Data, working in partnership, are pleased to announce that the first of five pop-up shop events from November 2017 to December 2018 has been a huge success.
We all know that there are a number of tech consumer-purchasing periods throughout the year which result in many bits of old tech being stored in drawers never to be used again, or worse, thrown away irresponsibly.
The average iPhone contains 14 precious metals and a history of your life! The data you store on these items (including photos, videos, contacts, texts, e-mails, passwords, account details and credit card data) is precious to you but equally valuable to a criminal. We are all made aware of the risks to our personal information and the threat of identity fraud and data breaches on a daily basis, and rightly so.
Over the next year, Tech-Takeback want to help you to declutter and dispose of your current tech safely and enable you to support those less able to purchase new tech by giving your old tech a second life and enabling Brighton & Hove charities to redistribute it.
By visiting one of the pop-up shops with any of your tech – mobile/smart phone, desk top computer, laptop, tablet, games console, external hard drive, USB memory stick, monitor screen, cables, keyboard, mouse, camera and video camera items, you will be able to:
- responsibly, safely and securely erase your tech of data (your data will be wiped using a government compliant data wiping service)
- benefit the digitally-deprived by enabling responsible re-use of the item, giving it a second life (they will triage all items received to identify suitability for secure refurbishment, re-use or recycling)
- enable responsible and correct re-use of the components if your item is at the end of its life (the resources and materials used in creating your tech are not destroyed but re-used).
This project is funded by the WEEE Local Project Fund, with match funding from Brighton & Hove City Council, EraseMyData, Freegle and SOENECS.
Under the UK Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Regulations, distributors (usually retailers) of EEE are able to choose from 2 options where they can either offer in store take back of waste electrical equipment on a one for one like for like basis or join the Distributor Take back Scheme (DTS).
The WEEE Local Project Fund is made up of the Distributor Takeback Scheme (DTS) which was established as an alternative to in-store take-back for distributors to discharge some of their obligations under the UK WEEE Regulations, and the WEEE Compliance Fee (CF) established as a means for Producer Compliance Schemes to discharge some of their obligations on behalf of producers of electrical equipment as an alternative to directly collecting WEEE.
The funding is not a Government grant and neither is it provided by Valpak (who administer the DTS) nor Grant Thornton (who administer the CF).
The team at Tech-Takeback expressed their gratitude at the huge levels of support across Brighton & Hove following the success of their first pop-up shop. Over 400 residents visited the shop to enquire or to donate unwanted tech, enabling 1.44 tonnes to be collected!
The event highlighted the value that residents place on their personal data and the need for a secure data erasure service for data-bearing items. The Tech-Takeback team are now working through the “triage” process, sorting your old items into those which can be given a second life, or if necessary, recycled or securely destroyed.
Those interested in old tech will be pleased to hear that the display of some vintage pieces will be given greater prominence at the next pop-up shop following lots of interest and excitement around some of the rarer technologies displayed; “We really enjoyed talking to you all and were impressed by your love of the old tech items on display. We had no idea we would be given 1970s phones and 1980s record players – now we know you share our interest in the history of technology, we will pay homage to old tech at our next Tech-Takeback pop-up shop event in January 2018.”
Keep an eye on Tech-Takeback’s website and social media in the coming weeks for more news and information on who has benefited from unwanted tech as well as releasing more information on where the next pop-up will be.
The Tech-Takeback project is led and managed by the following four partners:
Brighton and Hove City Council is the local authority of the city of Brighton and Hove. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined.
Erase My Data are experts in data erasure and can provide you with the confidence that we work to the highest industry standards that exceed the current best practice for handling data carrying assets .
Freegle help people give and get things for free in their local community. Some people have stuff they don’t want any more. Other people would like things they don’t have. We match them up.
SOENECS provides strategic advice and support to the public and private sectors and specialises in the fields of waste management, resource management, climate change, circular economy, renewable deployment, carbon management and partnership delivery.
