Donated PCs become African multimedia centres

(Photo credit: Glenn Edwards)

The issue of what to do with the growing mountain of discarded CRT monitors is one of the major environmental challenges facing an IT industry that is struggling to improve its green credentials. Lead-filled CRTs present a particular problem in that they have been superseded by slimmer LCD alternatives — although the jury is still out on what disposal issues may be in wait when it comes to these devices — which means no-one wants them, even in developing countries such as Kenya.

Computers For Schools Kenya (CFSK) is an NGO that works with UK charities, such as Computer Aid, to take PCs that are no longer up to the rigours of Vista and other processor-intensive applications and redistribute them to schools and colleges in the developing world. The charity, which has just moved to larger premises on the outskirts of Kenya's capital city, Nairobi, has come up with a ingenious way of ensuring that CRTs can be redeployed in the same efficient way that the main PC units are dealt with by the organisation.

Nothing is wasted by CFSK. In its five-year history, the organisation has sent some 10,000 reconditioned PCs to Kenyan schools and other deserving institutions.