2 min.
The Recycling Lab at the Istituto tecnico industriale Armellini, the leading school in the Don't throw me away ... there's mail for me at the Elderly Centre campaign, has never been as lively and colourful as last Friday, November 14.
Among the grey and dusty PCs, the open cases and dismounted parts, the brightly coloured dresses of Farhia and Faiza were dazzling as they enthusiastically participated in the “re-animation” of these abandoned PCs. Ten young boys and girls from Somalia attend the computer courses, promoted by the Fondazione Mondo Digitale at the Centro Enea, a multi-functional facility to welcome and help refugees, political asylum seekers and subsidiary protection beneficiaries to integrate in Italian society.
The unusual practical lesson took place at the Recycling Lab of the Itis Armellini (largo B.P. Riccardi 13), which opened up its doors to citizens for the Education Week for Sustainable Development promoted by Unesco to encourage the reduction of electronic waste, recycle old PCs and contributed to social and digital inclusion.
How to regenerate a PC
Old company PCs donated to the recycling campaign are tested one by one to verify the correct functioning of their various parts (hard disk, cd-rom, floppy disk, usb ports, etc.). The PC case is opened up and all the components are dismounted and thoroughly cleaned starting with the cooling fan which is often the cause of many problems due to the dust that has accumulated over the years. Then the PC is assembled again and the hard disk is formatted.
Subsequently, the operative system (usually open source or Microsoft) is installed. The Fondazione Mondo Digitale is accredited as a MAR - Microsoft Authorised Refurbisher, which means it is legally authorised to install the Microsoft system onto PC that will be donated. The operative system is chosen according to the PC processor and memory characteristics in order to best exploit every individual PC.
At this point the PCs are tested and software updates installed. Then, the sound, graphics and network cards are tested.
The last step involves installing the software that is used in the Elderly Centres (for word processing, spreadsheet calculations and image treatment). Then, the final test is run. The PC is labelled as a recycled PC, with the name of the company that donated it, and it is ready to be used…
