ICT supports Camara day

Did you know that businesses and individuals in Ireland will throw out over 1 million working computers over the next five years? Camara (www.camara.ie) is an Irish charity that aims to stop these computers being dumped in Ireland. Camara delivers computers, sends volunteers to teach technology and creates educational software for schools and colleges in Africa.

ICT Group's Sustainability Champions rounded off 2008 by nominating Monday, December 22nd as Camara Day in ICT Group. The idea was to collect as much unused computer and related "stuff " as could be found in all of the Head Office areas where ICT group people work, then hand over what was collected to Camara.

Camara Day was a huge success. A rough count of the equipment collected came to 92 PCs, with a wide variety of CRT and flat panel monitors, 15 laptops, approximately a dozen printers, a VCR, a projector, a digital camera and a large amount of keyboards, mice and assorted cabling. And there may be more!

Despite the intense amount of lifting and moving equipment, the day passed safely.

All the hard disks on PCs and laptops are being electronically "scrubbed" by Tomorrow's World, before they're handed over to Camara. Camara receive approximately 5,000 PCs a year, so ICT Group's Camara Day alone has contributed 2% of Camara's entire annual volume of equipment received. Business Unit Sustainability Managers are looking at repeating Camara Day across all ESB locations during Sustainability Week which is being held from February 16th to 20th.