We’re becoming a very environmentally aware society and many of us don’t want to see equipment that is still in working order, go to waste – we would prefer to see our computers ‘go to a good home’. This is evidenced by the huge response Jamie’s (www.jamies.org.uk) has had from the public over recent years, with thousands of individuals delivering their computers to us for re-use.

However, in April of this year due to new legislation and a subsequent rise in costs, we found ourselves having to make a decision on whether we could continue to provide this free service to the public. The answer was no, we couldn’t. However being aware of how important the service was to the city, we didn’t want to withdraw it altogether so we instead introduced an admin charge. This meant that those who still wanted their equipment to get a chance at re-use as opposed to entering regular waste streams, could continue to use Jamie’s. And these customers still got the added value of knowing that data storage equipment would be wiped and handled securely.

Bringing the charges in was a nerve racking time, but it was soon very apparent that our community was behind us. We have continued to have just as many householders visiting the project and all have been happy to make a financial contribution too.

It’s this kind of attitude from the community at large that makes me think that perhaps the reduce, re-use, recycle message is being heard and acted upon. And today, 3 months on from when the charge was introduced, I shall smile every time I think about this today and the impact we are capable of :)