West Oxfordshire District Council to donate IT equipment to local charities

West Oxfordshire District Council will be donating their unused laptops, computers and phones for re-use to charities who then distribute them to people who struggle to access the equipment. 

West Oxfordshire District Council will be donating equipment to local charities Oxford IT Bank and IT Schools Africa along with using a partner organisation who work with Socialbox.Biz who improve the local community by providing innovative technology solutions.

Councillor Jane Doughty, Cabinet Member for Customer Delivery, said “The recent Covid lockdowns have shown how important it is for people to stay connected. School children, households on lower incomes, and the elderly are more likely to be digitally excluded and unable to access the technology many of us take for granted. 

“By donating our unused technology we can help those in need access online services, keep in touch with other people and many other activities.”

Through partnering with local organisations the Council can ensure that those in need of technology, receive mobile phones and other devices to help them to communicate digitally. 

Equipment donated has been securely wiped of all data and refurbished before items are distributed to those in need. The equipment donated will be ‘end of life’ for commercial use, but will be more than suitable for most personal use and council engineers will be making sure they are recycled correctly.

Councillor Jane Doughty added, “We are encouraging businesses and residents in the district to follow suit and support charities and organisations who distribute old IT to new owners.”

“Rather than seeing IT and tech being scrapped, it’s better that they are reused and recycled for continued use which also ensures the council and anyone else donating is reducing their electrical device wastage and committing towards tackling the climate emergency.”