GE finds use for tech firms’ junked comps

Global technology major GE is looking to put to use the computers that the domestic IT companies are willing to junk.

The company is working on a plan to collect these computers, treated as e-waste by many firms, and use them to take IT education to thousands of schools in the country.

GE, through its corporate social responsibility (CSR) arm, GE Volunteers, has already piloted the project and is confident about rolling it to others parts of the country shortly.

“The results so far have been encouraging. We did this in Chennai and Hyderabad. The results from Andhra Pradesh are too good,” Sanjeev Jain, India leader for GE Volunteers, told DNA.

GE Volunteers is targeting the IT companies that plan to dispose of computers either due to the depreciation of the asset or due to upgradation.

GE would collect these computers and refurbish them for extending their life. “We spend about Rs 1,000 per system for refurbishment. These computers will then be given to various schools that we are identifying using a group of NGOs. Volunteers from GE would also work with the teachers in these schools for imparting IT-based education to the students,” Jain said.

The company has so far collected about 400 computers and distributed them to some schools on a pilot basis.

“It is not that we give out these computers and leave them there. The objective is to tell the schools how to use them as well. The volunteers from GE are engaged in training the teachers,” he said.

GE Volunteers is currently working on a target of collecting about 10,000 computers in a year and roll out the programme across the country.

In fact, several IT and ITeS companies are now facing an issue with disposing of the used computers. Though it is easy for any company to junk the used system and replace it with a new computer, there are some regulatory issues that do not allow the easy disposal.

“Many of these IT companies would have bought the system under several packages offered by the government for IT promotion. There are some customs issues involved in taking away the computers from the premises of the IT companies. We are working on solving these issues along with Nasscom,” Jain said.

GE Volunteers has joined hands with Nasscom Foundation for extending the programme to various cities in the country.

GE Volunteers is a CSR arm of the company worldwide.  “Every GE employee by default is a volunteer. But, when they have to take up some work as a volunteer, GE gives them freedom to suit their convenience. So, instead of calculating in terms of the number of volunteers working on various social initiatives, we look at it from the numbers-of-hours point of view. In 2008, GE volunteers spared about 20,000 hours for CSR activities,” he said.