In June 2003 I joined the selection panel for the allocation of council’s surplus computers to community groups. The selection panel consisted of me, a council officer, and the Executive Officer of the Palmerston North Community Services Council, Inc. This was set up as a trial after almost two years of lobbying by me to get council to distribute surplus council computers to schools and community groups. The trial was a success and I am pleased to say that council is now committed to distributing their retired computers into the community.

Sometimes, it is just not possible to reuse an item in the way it was originally intended to be used. Disposal of obsolete and non-repairable computer equipment is an increasing problem around the world. We have a computer recycling scheme starting in Palmerston North before too long, and there are schemes already in place for redistributing unwanted (but still usable) computers, but this is a novel idea for reusing a computer monitor…

June 2003

I joined the selection panel for the allocation of council’s surplus computers to community groups. The selection panel consists of me, a council officer, and the Executive Officer of the Palmerston North Community Services Council, Inc.