[trashware] Initiatives to refurbish PCs can narrow digital divide, experts say at UNESCO

[paolo massa]

http://portal.unesco.org/ci/fr/ev.php-URL_ID=20471&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

leggete il breve articolo. UNESCO illustra interessanti opportunita',
se qualcuno raccoglie maggiori info fa sapere?

Initiatives to refurbish PCs can narrow digital divide, experts say at UNESCO
28-10-2005 (Paris)

In a bid to contribute to universal access to information, experts
discussed at UNESCO's Paris Headquarters last week how developing
countries could benefit from the European Directive on Waste
Electrical and Electronic Equipment.
The over 40 participants from the European Commission, the Global
e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI), the French Agence
gouvernementale de l'Environnement et de la Maîtrise de l'Énergie
(ADEME), NGOs and the private sector discussed how the the European
regulatory framework and its application through national legislation
could benefit computer recycling programmes for developing countries
and reviewed logistical and economic models for recycling and
refurbishing PCs.

They said that stakeholders involved into PC distribution in
developing countries must join forces to leverage each other's impact
and to fully benefit from the European Directive in order to better
respond to increasing needs for IT equipment in the South.

The European Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment of
27 January 2003 (2003/108/ec) stresses that priority shall be given to
PC reemployment. The proper refurbishment of a small part of used PCs
in Europe could significantly contribute to satisfy needs of schools,
community centres and associations indeveloping countries. In 2003, 53
millions PCs were sold on the European market and it is estimated that
500 millions of them would not be used anymore in 2007.

The brainstorming meeting on 24 October 2005 was organized by
EcoMicro, a France-based initiative dealing with PC recycling and
refurbishing for social inclusion and support to developing countries,
in cooperation with UNESCO.