RECOSI (Regional and European Co-Operative for Social Industry), a not-for-profit organisation that helps social enterprises operating in the area of reuse of IT, electrical and electronic equipment, has announced a three-year plan including the creation of 200 jobs in Ireland and expansion into Europe.
The company, and its partners hope to employ 20 people with a further 180 coming from a network of partners. The first such partner, The Green Emporium in Newbridge, Co Kildare, will open its first reuse centre this month employing 10, which it hopes to increase to 30 within a year.
Within five years, RECOSI hopes to become Europe’s largest electronic and electrical equipment asset recovery organisation and provider of IT and electrical equipment for social enterprises.
For the reuse and refurbishment of IT equipment, RECOSI has signed a deal with Microsoft, through their registered refurbished scheme, to supply licences for all PCs and laptops that it sells. It has also partnered with a data destruction company to ensure that all software and data is wiped from each device. For the rest of the electronic goods, each item will undergo a strict process of refurbishment and will be guaranteed for a minimum of six months under the PAS141 standard and will be labelled as ‘Refurbished by RECOSI’.
Martin Reddy, CEO, RECOSI, explained: “RECOSI has been set up to divert IT and electrical goods from being recycled, to being reused in a proper professional, controlled way and in this way to generate employment. Irish people divert thousands of tonnes of WEEE to be recycled every year, a percentage of which is perfectly usable and could be reused again if properly refurbished, tested and licenced.
“Our initial target of 5% of all WEEE being refurbished and reused will bring over 200 jobs to Ireland in the next three years, and thousands of computers, TV’s and white and brown goods will be refurbished and sold at a reasonable price to those in need of good value IT and electronic equipment.”
TechCentral Reporters
Subscribers 0
Fans 0
Followers 0
Followers