Circular Computing, a specialist in sustainably remanufactured laptops, has partnered with an international charity to help deliver clean, safe water in countries low on the UN Development Index around the world.
The partnership will see the company donate a share of its sales to non-profit charity: water, which is dedicated to helping the one in ten people globally who live without clean water. Every remanufactured laptop sold by Circular Computing will provide a week’s worth of water to a family in one of the world’s poorest nations.
Water and its relationship with climate change will be one of the main subjects under discussion at next month’s UN climate change conference COP29 in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Since it was founded in 2006, charity: water has raised more than $740million (£568million), funding projects to help more than 19 million people in 29 countries gain reliable access to safe drinking water.
Circular Computing’s Circular Remanufacturing Process reduces the environmental cost of traditional computer production, with each repurposed laptop helping to save the Earth’s natural resources, including about 190,000 litres of water that would be consumed in the creation of a new model1.
The company has saved more than 18 billion litres of water through its second-life laptops to date — enough to fill 7,300 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Half the world’s population already lack sufficient water or access to clean supplies, according to a landmark report published earlier this month, which called on governments to agree a global pact to protect water sources and ensure it is reused with a circular economy.
Rod Neale, Founder of Circular Computing, commented: “Consumers and businesses worldwide are still coming to terms with the impact the services and products they buy can have on their carbon footprint. Yet there is much less focus on our consumption of natural resources.
“Despite its abundance in the West, the accelerating effects of climate change mean the planet is facing a water crisis – and all of us must play our part.
“We want to not only cut the environmental cost of IT production by driving forward remanufacturing as a model within the sector, but also, through our partnership with charity: water, deliver a positive impact that extends beyond our industry, helping give families access to clean, safe water.”
Ellie Jefferies, Associate Director, Brand & Marketing, charity: water, commented: “Here at charity: water we’re delighted to partner with Circular Computing as they commit significant resources per laptop sale to bring clean, safe water to people in rural communities. Water is life. It’s health but it’s also gender equity, education for children and economic growth for people just like ourselves who lack this most basic need. We love the ethos of Circular Computing and to know a partner is both doing good by working with us and because of the core of their business model – it’s a win, win.”
