ILM Highland is launching a new service to refurbish unused and unwanted laptops in order to reduce e-waste.

Each year, each person in the UK produces 23.9 kg of e-waste. On top of that, every British household contains an average of 20 unused electronic devices, of which only 2.5-10% are reused. “We are pleased to launch this laptop refurbishment project at a time when we need to put more effort into repairing electronics and reusing them and for a longer period of time. Our goal is to reduce pollution and emit less CO2,” said Martin Macleod, CEO of ILM Highland. “We strongly believe in the circular economy, giving electronics a longer life after their initial use, with simple refurbishment and repairs. This way we prevent the equipment from ending up on a landfill site.”

Reducing carbon footprint

The team at ILM Highland welcomes all donations of old laptops suitable for conversion, preferably with all associated cables and batteries. The project has support from Zero Waste Scotland’s Resource Efficient Circular Economy Accelerator Program and receives funding from the Scottish Government and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

“Extending the life of electronic equipment will reduce our carbon footprint and that is essential to stopping Scotland’s contribution to the climate crisis,” says Jayne Stirling, Business Investment Consultant at Zero Waste Scotland.