City Upgrades, Donates Thousands of Old Computers

Instead of throwing out 8,000 computers that became obsolete after a system upgrade, the Los Angeles City Council decided on Wednesday to refurbish half and recycle the rest.

The city no longer needs the computers after upgrading from the older Windows XP system, said Mark Wolf, executive officer of the Information Technology Agency.

The upgrade took place in April, according to a city report. A council aide said the city is now using Windows 7 systems.

The plan proposed by Councilman Bob Blumenfield calls for refurbishing some of the computers so they could be donated to nonprofit organizations serving disadvantaged communities.

Blumenfield called the program, which would be implemented as a pilot project, an "exciting project."

Any computers that cannot be refurbished will be "recycled responsibly," instead of sent to a landfill, according to Wolf.

A "bigger picture vision" for the program is to "leverage private sector donations" so nonprofit organizations would continue to receive donated computers after the initial 4,000 or so have been distributed, Wolf said.

Blumenfield's motion was adopted on a unanimous vote.

"This is an innovative solution that has involved multiple city agencies cooperating with one another," Blumenfield said.

"By thinking about the entire life cycle of our electronic devices we can make strides in bridging the digital divide, benefit underserved communities and reduce our e-waste footprint."