Old tech taking up space? Let us help you clear IT out

A new pop up shop is being opened by the city council and its partners to allow people to declutter their old tech in a post-Christmas clear out.

Anyone with unwanted tech like computers, laptops, phones, cameras and cables – possibly because they’ve bought or received new equipment over the festive season – can safely dispose of their old items and have them safely and professionally data wiped for free.

The tech will then be available from free online reuse network Freegle, given to charities to distribute, sold to people less able to afford new tech or, if the equipment is beyond repair, it will be dismantled for material recycling.

The Tech-Take Back shop, the second of five over the next year, will open at 13 Pavilion Buildings, Brighton, BN1 1EE on Saturday 13 January between 10am – 5 pm, for nine days.

The first shop, opened for 10 days in December, was visited by 420 people and a total of 1,036 items were dropped off, including 84 mobile phones, 123 laptops, 53 computers, 67 hard drives, 201 USB memory sticks and hundreds of cables – all weighing in at almost 1.5 tonnes.

This amounted to a carbon saving of 4.5 tonnes of CO2e - equivalent to the energy needed to produce and cook approximately 1,294 cheeseburgers or produce 44,440 plastic carrier bags.

The pop-up shops are being run by Brighton & Hove City Council; Freegle, the free online reuse network; circular economy environment specialists SOENECS; and computer data erasure experts EraseMyData.

The shops are being sponsored by special funding after the city council won a £25,000 WEEE (Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment) Local Project grant under the national Distributor Takeback Scheme.