Dubai: Old computers no longer have to collect dust in storerooms, as Dubai Municipality is urging residents to donate their PCs so they can be distributed to the needy.

Qasim Mohammad Al Qasim, Head of PC Refurbishment Centre at Dubai Municipality, explained that they do not only collect computers, but also central processing units, monitors, scanners, printers, fax machines and other related items.

“We work in collaboration with the Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Foundation, so when they want to hand out computers they come to us. There are always people who are not computer literate and do not have the means to buy a brand new computer, but through our initiative we want to give everybody the opportunity to learn,” said Al Qasim.

The initiative was established in 2007 and targets individuals and institutions to donate old, damaged or discarded computers to the centre. The items, after the necessary repairs, will be donated to educational institutions, social and charity organisations.

Since its launch the Refurbishment Centre in Al Qusais has received 130,000 items, out of which 25,000 of them were computers. The department currently employs three technicians, while outsourcing the job of installation to a private firm.

“We get an average of 400 items a month, mainly from banks, government departments and private companies. And through this programme, we want to spread IT education across the country and abroad, and to provide benefactors with the necessary technical resources, computers and IT products,” said Al Qasim.

One of the main challenges is refurbishing computers that do not have a hard disk, which is essential in storing information such as software and files.

“All the desktop computers we get from the army or the police do not have a hard disk, so it is our responsibility to find a compatible one, and that is not an easy task. We almost always end up removing the hard disk from other donated computers but the hard drive in notebooks are much easier to find,” he said.