The Department has entrusted Emmaüs Connect with the task of giving a second life to its IT equipment once it is no longer in use. Since the summer of 2023, 1,508 pieces of equipment have already been reconditioned or dismantled for spare parts by the charity.
Emmaüs Connect launched its solidarity sector for the reuse of IT equipment in Hauts-de-France in 2020. Its objective? Promote the inclusion of audiences affected by social and digital exclusion. Since March 2023, the Department has joined the network, and has enabled this association to recover a large number of laptops, tablets and smartphones.
The reconditioning of this computer equipment is entrusted to integration structures (Atis in Trith-Saint-Léger, Defabnord in Tourcoing and APF enterprises in Famars), but also to a group of volunteers at Emmaüs Connect, which deals more specifically with smartphones. .
Hardware audited, “rebooted”, repaired and cleaned
The equipment, once audited, 'rebooted', repaired and cleaned, is resold at a solidarity rate through different channels. First of all, there are two digital solidarity spaces, in Lille and Roubaix, which offer laptops for around €70 and €180, while tablets and smartphones are resold between €40 and €100. All of this equipment is intended for Northerners who have previously been oriented by a social referent.
Emmaüs Connect also works with digital equipment relays: social centers, solidarity grocery stores or any social action association which, once their representatives have been trained, can in turn market this equipment which benefits from a two-year guarantee.
At the same time, Emmaüs Connect offers individual and collective support for online procedures, particularly as part of the return to work process. Recipients of Active Solidarity Income (RSA) who benefit from this support have the possibility of leaving with a refurbished PC to gain autonomy around these uses.
Finally, it occasionally happens that donations are organized for a vulnerable public, like the 50 tablets which were recently offered to young people from Children's Social Assistance (ASE) as part of a sponsorship action, to celebrate their journey of success.
Donations from the Department in a few figures
– 100 laptop PCs entrusted, currently being processed;
– 325 fixed PCs entrusted and recycled;
– 6 tablets entrusted, currently being processed;
– 484 smartphones and 383 conventional telephones entrusted, 492 recycled, 287 being processed and 88 already distributed;
– 310 accessories (mice, hard drives and screens) entrusted, already reused.
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