What is the WEEE Centre?
Now that the madness of Christmas and New Year has died down, please think responsibly when clearing out any unwanted e-waste. If you got an upgrade to your IT equipment as a gift, why not donate your older model to the Perth College UHI WEEE Centre so that someone else can benefit from it? We caught up with Technician, Ryan Carle, to find out more about the WEEE Centre.
Ryan Carle
WEEE Centre Technician
What is the WEEE Centre, and how can everyone get involved?
The WEEE Centre collects IT waste for reusing and recycling. We are open for donations from everyone – the public, local businesses and charities. Everyone has something to donate!
We ask for people to donate quickly, so that the item is still re-sellable and not out of date. It’s easy to put your old phone or laptop in a drawer or on a shelf to gather dust, but you wouldn’t keep your old sofa or bed if you bought a new one!
We sell our recycled equipment at reduced rates and donate to charities - locally and internationally.
Tell us about yourself – why did you want to work in computing?
Ever since I was a kid, I had a fascination with electronics and how they worked. Any time something broke in our house, I would grab a screwdriver and open it up to see the workings on the inside. It amazed me how small bits of circuitry could allow you to watch TV, play a VHS or even listen to music.
My obsession with technology grew over time and, before I knew it, I was being called upon by friends and family to fix problems they were having with their electrical equipment. Being rewarded with sweets and chocolates at a young age for helping only encouraged me to keep going and to get better at it.
From then on, and still to this day, I spend a couple of hours every week keeping up with the latest technology and researching ways to fix different problems that come with it.
The website talks about recycling containers. Can you tell me more about them and where they are?
Perth and Kinross council have located three containers within their Friarton, Inveralmond and Kinross household recycling centres.
Any item donated into these containers will come to the college for rebuilding, recycling or donating.
Unfortunately, we don’t take printers anymore - so we ask for printers to be placed into the small appliance container. Ink cartridges are recyclable and can be donated to a number of places - some supermarkets even have drop off points for cartridges.
Where else do you get equipment from?
Within the college, any equipment that becomes redundant through the upgrade programme comes to the WEEE Centre. Local businesses contact us too when they are upgrading or cleaning out.
This equipment is always re-sellable and in good condition and as all items have different varying specifications, we can meet more demand for our customers
What do you sell or donate?
Anything that works! Laptops; projectors; base units and screens; and all accessories.
I think our strapline could be: ‘If we would buy it, we can sell it’ J
Can someone put in a special request?
Yes – we can’t always guarantee that we will be able to match your request exactly, but we will try our best.
If a charity wanted to get in touch for some IT equipment, who would they contact?
We are keen to work with local charities. In the past, we have set up an employability suite for a homeless charity. By donating some old PCs from the college Costa IT Suite, we were able to create an internet café that the charities clients could use to access the internet to search for jobs, update their CVs, and write letters.
We have also supported a local cub group for an online jamboree, and donated a computer system to a charity for the volunteers to use whilst supporting others.
Drop an email to weeePerth.Perth@uhi.ac.uk and we will be happy to meet up and help out.
Do college students get involved in the WEEE Centre?
Yes, they do. NQ Computing attend every year to complete their work experience module. Working in the WEEE Centre gives students a chance to work in a ‘real working environment’, and work on equipment that has actual faults. We have had some students re-build computers that have been donated as faulty and not working.
Students also go on a field trip to see the recycling centre who we donate to. We partner with a company who are the experts at IT asset disposal and WEEE recycling.
