City of Edinburgh Council has partnered with social enterprise Edinburgh Remakery to encourage local people to donate unwanted digital devices for re-use by people in digital poverty.
They have set up three donation centres for unwanted laptops. Hones, tablets, cameras and chargers to be refurbished and repaired for passing on.
The council said that so far the social enterprise has helped more than 400 people through their Tech Gifting Programme, which also about reducing electronic waste.
It said an estimated 24 million old smartphones are kept as ‘spares’ in homes across the UK in cupboards or drawers, and that it wants to make it as easy as possible for anyone to pass on their unwanted technology instead of throwing it away.
Edinburgh Remakery has estimated that it helped save 83,087kg in CO2 emissions in 2022, equivalent to 100 million smartphones being fully charged.
