Refurbished TechSoup Computers Recycled for Free

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that in the U.S. in 2007, only 18% of electronic waste was collected for recycling and a full 82%, or 1.84 million tons, was disposed of, primarily in landfills.

With these types of statistics, we feel an obligation to do our part to help curb e-waste while at the same time promoting the efficient use of technology to help social benefit organizations most effectively meet their missions. With those objectives in mind, we developed the Refurbished Computer Initiative (RCI) program to offer warrantied, refurbished computers to nonprofits and now libraries. We have also expanded our catalog of computer offerings that are available, which includes a greater cross-section of machines from different manufacturers and more robust equipment with increased RAM and hard-drive specifications for those organizations which need more powerful equipment capable of doing heavier-lifting.

At some point though, all computers will reach the end of their useful life. To ensure the e-waste is responsibly handled and does not add further cost to nonprofits, we work with our refurbishing partner, Redemtech, to take back those computers distributed through our program.

When RCI computers finally reach the end of their useful life, organizations have a no-cost, secure, and environmentally safe solution to dispose of them. All RCI computers distributed after January 2009 have a Recycle Me Free! sticker that makes them eligible for free recovery and recycling services. To access these services, fill out a request form, on the TakeBack Program webpage.