The NOW caught up with Mary-Em Waddington, executive director at Computers for Schools, a Burnaby non-profit organization that refurbishes donated computers and sells them to schools at dirt-cheap prices.
Question: Tell me about your organization. What do you do?
Answer: We accept computer donations from business, government and individuals for refurbishment and distribution back to school and non-profit organizations.
Through this simple work we support education, youth and our environment.
Q: How long have you been around?
A: We were announced by Kim Campbell when she was prime minister and are gearing up to celebrate our 20-year anniversary in October.
Q: Where do the donated computers usually come from? Seventy per cent of our equipment comes from the federal government; the rest is from local businesses and individuals. We're pleased to have Pacific Blue Cross, Nokia Canada and Metro Vancouver as Burnaby-based businesses that support our work. We are a registered charity as well and provide tax receipts for computer donations.
Q: Does your group needs more computers and schools to donate to?
A: There is always ongoing demand by schools for more equipment. Some would take every last piece we had in the warehouse, given half the chance.
The more equipment we have donated in, the more we can provide back to schools.
Securing more donations, and at a steady stream would enable us to serve more schools and reduce the wait-time.
Q: Who funds your organization?
A: Industry Canada provides us with $400,000 each year to cover some operating expenses and salaries for post-secondary students on a paid work term. Computers for Schools is a Government of Canada initiative, and there are programs in each province and territory. Nationally, we celebrated our one millionth-computer milestone in 2010, and here in B.C., we just achieved our 130,000 computer.
Q: How much would you charge a school for an average laptop?
A: Fifty to $95, depending on what the utilization plan is and how much ram is required, etc.
Q: Do you work with the Burnaby school district at all?
A: Yes! We provide work experience placements for about 30 high school students each year and have been doing that for at least 10 years. One of our board members teaches electronics at Burnaby North Secondary.
Q: What are the environmental benefits with a group like Computers for Schools?
A: By placing business computers into school or non-profit organizations we are effectively doubling the life span of that equipment.
This is really important when we think about the processes that have to go into the mining, manufacturing, global shipping logistics of electronics. On top of that, half the periodic table is found inside the various components of the equipment and then it's often sprayed with a highly toxic (in the landfill) fire retardant. It's just not good enough to use these pieces for two to four years. ... We really owe it to our kids and planet to ensure that we are getting the most life out of these pieces before we send it for recycling. But we have to remember that "reuse" comes before recycling.
