Brisbane's Western Suburbs State Special School has partnered with technology security firm Kroll Ontrack to reduce the volume of materials produced by IT products.
The computer recycling training project came about after the Federal Government’s Product Stewardship Act was introduced to reduce waste, and has school students stripping down hard drives; separating components into recyclable and non-recyclable parts.
Work training coordinator at the school, Kathryn Flint, said the initiative has encouraged students to participate in an important process.
“We have a purpose built work training centre, and the students do work training there and...we’re teaching them the basics of work,” she said.
“They [Kroll] supply us with the goods and have the technicians out to show us the correct ways to pull apart the hardware and they’ve also provided the tools needed to do this.”
Flint said thanks to the Act, the school students not only benefit from the experience of recycling materials, they also receive government funding.
“The benefits of companies working with schools are great, because a number of schools can take part in a partnership and it gives students a realistic view on what the workplace is like,” Flint said.
“When we recycle those materials, those funds are coming back to the school and we try to get that funding go into work training because that’s the area we’re focusing on.”
Kroll Ontrack’s general manager of the Asia Pacific region, Adrian Briscoe, said the project showed how vital shared responsibility is.
“What the government is trying to do is make the responsibility of recycling one of the government and the community,” he said.
“What Kroll Ontrack Western Suburbs are trying to do is work on a project that shows that the Stewardship Act is in effect and is a solution that goes a long way.”
Follow Lisa Banks on Twitter: @CapricaStar
Follow Computerworld Australia on Twitter: @ComputerworldAU