‘Bring us your laptops’: The Warren tackles e-waste and digital exclusion with £37,000 eco grant
SKILLS: From left to right, digital skills worker Dave; Skyla; Evo; and Rhyen
By Simon Bristow
Hull youth project The Warren has begun repairing laptops after being awarded a share of a £500,000 grant to reduce electronic waste.
The Warren was awarded £37,000 from the Time after Time fund, created by Virgin Media O2 and environmental charity Hubbub, to launch its innovative eco project to support devices being used again and again.
It held its first repair workshop yesterday.
Virgin Media O2 and Hubbub established the fund last year in response to the growing environmental impact of e-waste – the fastest growing waste stream in the world – with the UK producing more electrical waste per person than any other country in the world except for Norway.
The Warren, which provides vital support services to marginalised and vulnerable young people, was selected as one of ten national winners by a panel of sustainability experts.
It will run a two-year project to upskill young people to repair laptops to prevent them from ending up as e-waste, and to help them learn essential digital skills. The project will therefore address both e-waste and digital exclusion.
As part of its digital hub The Curve, The Warren will be running laptop-repair workshops that will entail young people completing an internationally recognised essential digital skills certificate and participating in e-waste awareness events. These will include donation stations where peoples can deposit electronic items they no longer need so they can be repaired by the participants.
The Curve aims to support 120 young people aged 16 to 25 and prevent over 160kg of old technology from entering landfill.
The Warren’s young people chose the name “Tekatak” for the project. The name is inspired by a passion to “attack” three inequalities: freeing up old, unused and unloved tech to give it a new lease of life and address the growing e-waste problem; bridging the digital skills divide by teaching young people essential practical digital skills; and tackling digital access inequalities by giving them a laptop and internet connectivity.
Each cohort will go through a three-week programme that includes how to refurbish laptops, wipe a hard drive and upgrade software, but also how to dispose of items if they can’t be used and need to be recycled properly. The next new cohort will start their programme on Tuesday 11 July.
Warren CEO JJ Tatten said: “We're thrilled to have this investment in TekAtak – a youth-led and needs-led initiative that enables us to really get to grips with e-Waste and digital inequality. This is a powerful example of how we as a society can turn the damaging issue of waste into a solution to the digital divide.”
Gavin Ellis, co-founder of Hubbub, said: “E-waste is a pressing environmental issue so this funding is very welcome and enables us to support a range of initiatives that will make a real difference.
“We are particularly delighted that a number of the winning projects aim to engage with people aged 16 to 24 who are not only heavy users of electrical items but are key to helping tackle this issue in the future. We are thrilled to award The Warren Youth Project with their funding and look forward to seeing what they achieve.”
Donors can help by calling the Warren on 01482 218115 or emailing tekatak@thewarren.org to organise donation of old kit.