The Dubai Culture & Arts Authority (Dubai Culture), the Emirate?s dedicated entity for culture and heritage, is participating in the ?Your Old Devices for Those in Need? initiative launched by Dubai Municipality and Mohammed Bin Rashid Charity and Humanitarian Establishment.

The campaign aims to repair old computers, accessories or any other electronic devices unused by Dubai Culture for recycling and reuse, thus contributing to the sustainable development of the UAE. By donating the refurbished devices to charity and educational institutes in the country and abroad, Dubai Culture is also contributing to the society by touching the lives of the underprivileged. 


Through their participation in the campaign, they are promoting the need to recycle old electronic devices that otherwise lead to environmental degradation. Furthermore, they are fulfilling a social responsibility by conserving nature and also supporting the people in need. These refurbished, ready-to-use IT and electronic appliances will contribute to enhancing their lives, especially in promoting education.

Dubai Culture collaborated with Dubai Municipality?s Personal Computer Refurbishment Centre (PCRC) to refurbish over 300 devices including old computers, accessories or other electronic devices that will be used beneficially by educational, social and charity organisations.

The Dubai Culture & Arts Authority? not only supports  distinctive and constructive initiatives that promote humanitarian values , but also works to raise awareness on the importance of environment preservation though measures such as paper recycling, environment friendly disposal of used ink cartridges and many more.

Dubai Municipality has refurbished or recycled more than 157,000 laptops, desktops and other electronic devices since 2007.

It means a whopping 2,500 tonnes of electronics were diverted from the landfill, preventing waste and the risk of toxic pollution.

The combined volume of the refurbished electronic devices would have filled up 75 truckloads of garbage.

The figures reveal the municipality-run PC Refurbishment Centre (PCRC) has, in its eight-year history, received 39,720 desktops — weighing a total of 794 tonnes.

E-waste is especially troublesome as it is poses a health risk and needs special care in handling.

Discarded electronics or e-waste contains toxic substances such as lead, mercury and heavy metals, which leak out from the decomposing waste pile. Some chemicals also dissipate into the air.

In landfills, the leaking toxins contaminate the soil and seep into the groundwater table, eventually entering the food chain through plant and animal products that people consume.

Improper handling of e-waste also exposes workers to the harmful substances.

Besides toxins, e-waste also has salvageable metal, gold, silver and copper used in the circuitry and wires.

In every million mobile phones, there is about 350kg of silver, 34kg of gold, 15kg of palladium, and 15,500kg of copper that can be recovered.

At PCRC, the refurbished computers, printers and other devices are distributed free to various educational and charitable institutions in the UAE, GCC countries and some countries in Africa and Europe.

Before shipping them out, software programs, such as new operating systems, anti-virus, and MS Office are installed to complete a newly refurbished computer.

In Dubai, the PCRC is at the core of preventing e-waste contamination, by refurbishing the items or recycling them. This programme by Dubai Municipality has been successful due to organisations like “The Dubai Culture & Arts Authority”

Source : The Gulf Today