Zero waste, or waste minimization, is a set of principles focused on waste prevention that encourages redesigning resource life cycles so that all products are repurposed and/or reused. The goal of the movement is to avoid sending trash to landfills, incinerators, oceans, or any other part of the environment. Currently 9% of global plastic is recycled. In a zero waste system, all materials are reused until the optimum level of consumption is reached.
Electronic waste recycling, electronics recycling, or e-waste recycling is the disassembly and separation of components and raw materials of waste electronics; when referring to specific types of e-waste, the terms like computer recycling or mobile phone recycling may be used. Like other waste streams, reuse, donation, and repair are common sustainable ways to dispose of IT waste.
One Laptop per Child (OLPC) was a non-profit initiative established with the goal of transforming education for children around the world; this goal was to be achieved by creating and distributing educational devices for the developing world, and by creating software and content for those devices.
Nonprofit technology is the deliberative use of technology by nonprofit organizations to maximize potential in numerous areas, primarily in supporting the organization mission and meeting reporting requirements to funders and regulators.
Computer Aid International is a not-for-profit organisation active in the field of Information and Communication Technologies for Development. A registered charity, Computer Aid was founded in 1997 to bridge the digital divide by providing refurbished PCs from the UK to educational and non-profit organisations in developing countries.
Net Literacy is an Indianapolis based 501(c) non-profit organization that promotes computer and Internet literacy. The program is youth-run, with adult mentoring. All participants receive instruction for free.
InterConnection.org (IC) is an American 501(c)(3), non-profit organization headquartered in Seattle, Washington. InterConnection was established in 1999 by Charles Brennick. The organization's original focus was on developing and donating websites to non-profits in developing countries. The program soon expanded to include computer donations and technology training. In 2004 the InterConnection Computer Reuse and Learning Center opened in Seattle as a hub to serve both local and international communities.
The Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) is an initiative that gives learning technology to all of the 7th-12th graders attending public schools in Maine, Hawaii, and Vermont. Currently, it hands out a school's choice between either iPads, MacBook Airs, Hewlett-Packard ElitePads, Hewlett-Packard ProBooks, and CTL Classmate PC Netbooks to students. Before that, it gave iBooks and later MacBooks to students. When it began in Maine in 2002, it was one of the first such initiatives anywhere in the world and first in the United States to equip all students with a laptop.
Cyberpipe was a hackerspace in Ljubljana, Slovenia, established in 2001 as a part of the K6/4 Institute. After a breakup with the parent organization and moving to a different location in 2013 it ceased most operations in 2015.
Computer hardware includes the physical parts of a computer, such as the case, central processing unit (CPU), random access memory (RAM), monitor, mouse, keyboard, computer data storage, graphics card, sound card, speakers and motherboard.
The World Reuse, Repair and Recycling Association (WR3A) is a business consortium dedicated to the reform of the trade of e-waste. The WR3A is inspired by fair trade organizations.
Sustainable Electronics Initiative (SEI) is an initiative started in the United States in the summer of 2009 by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center, which is a division of the Institute of Natural Resource Sustainability of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. SEI is dedicated to developing and implementing sustainable means for the design, manufacturing, remanufacturing, and recycling of electronics Members of SEI include individuals from academia, non-profit organizations, government agencies, manufacturers, designers, recyclers and refurbishers.
Empower Up, formerly known as CREAM, a 501(c)(3), was a computer recycling center in SW Washington. Started in mid-2002, Empower Up took old electronics in for donation, and recycled/distributed them.
Pioneers, a Volunteer Network, founded and more commonly known as the Telephone Pioneers of America, is a non-profit charitable organization based in Denver, Colorado in the United States. The association was organized in Boston in November 1911 by 246 pioneers active in the early days of telephony, including Alexander Graham Bell who received membership card No. 1. The first elected president was Theodore N. Vail, president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T).
Nonprofit Technology Resources (NTR) is a charitable nonprofit organization (NPO) inside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that "serves low-income people in Philadelphia by recycling used computers, providing hands-on work experience, and assisting community-based service organizations to use computers in their work."
Computer technology for developing areas is a field focused on using technology to improve the quality of life and support economic development in regions with limited access to resources and infrastructure. This area of research seeks to address the digital divide, which refers to the gap between those who have access to technology and those who do not, and the resulting inequalities in education, healthcare, and economic opportunities.
World Computer Exchange (WCE) is a United States and Canada based charity organization whose mission is "to reduce the digital divide for youth in developing countries, to use our global network of partnerships to enhance communities in these countries, and to promote the reuse of electronic equipment and its ultimate disposal in an environmentally responsible manner." According to UNESCO, it is North America's largest non-profit supplier of tested used computers to schools and community organizations in developing countries.
Labdoo is a non-profit organization that provides, free of charge, refurbished laptops loaded with child-friendly educational software in local languages to schools, orphanages, and refugee projects in low-income countries around the world. The organization is dedicated to not incurring additional economic cost nor contributing to the generation of CO2 emissions. Through its global network of grassroots volunteers connected through more than 400 operational hubs, it has provided its services to more than 700,000 students
Drug recycling, also referred to as medication redispensing or medication re-use, is the idea that health care organizations or patients with unused drugs can transfer them in a safe and appropriate way to another patient in need. The purpose of such a program is reducing medication waste, thereby saving healthcare costs, enlarging medications’ availability and alleviating the environmental burden of medication.
Clifford Eric Lundgren is an American social entrepreneur, innovator and advocate best known for recycling electronic waste and developing cost-effective Lithium-ion battery solutions. He is the current CEO of BigBattery. He was the COO of MiningSky and Founder of IT Asset Partners, Inc. (ITAP), an electronics reuse and Hybrid Recycling company.
