Virgin Media O2 and Coventry City Council have bolstered their existing partnership to scale up the council’s #CovConnects digital inclusion programme and its device bank initiative that rehomes end-of-first-life devices from businesses and public sector organisations, redistributing them to people who need them across communities across the city.
The 18-month project aims to boost digital inclusion by helping more Coventry residents get online, while promoting a circular economy model that reduces environmental impact.
It is hoped that the project will increase the number of Coventry businesses and organisations that donate their unused tech to #CovConnects to prevent devices, such as phones, tablets, and laptops, from ending up as electronic waste. Instead, the tech is given a second life with people who are unable to afford a device.
Through the partnership, Virgin Media O2 and Coventry City Council aim to create a model of circularity where unwanted tech can be used again within the city, reducing the overall need for new devices.
It also means a reduction in e-waste collection costs, and helps to lower the environmental impact of many devices in the city whilst supporting more Coventry residents to get online.
Over the next 18 months, the partners will encourage more local businesses and public sector organisations to donate unused devices, while working together to remove barriers that prevent tech from being reused.
The focus is on getting these devices into the hands of Coventry residents, alongside partnerships with community groups to build a hyperlocal culture of reuse across the city.
Virgin Media O2 and Coventry City Council will also invite other local authorities to take part in the initiative to share best practices and learnings within a working group. This will enable the project to scale device reuse more quickly across the country.
Dana Haidan, Chief Sustainability Officer at Virgin Media O2, said: “We are taking our next step in championing a more circular economy for tech in the UK.
“Our ambition is to create a model of circularity that has a reuse-first approach, enabled via local device banks, which can then be replicated and rolled out across the UK.
“The most successful circular models are ones that are hyperlocal, utilising networks and partners that are grounded in local community needs. By working with Coventry City Council, we want to see more end-of-first-life corporate devices being rehomed with people who need them, helping to both transform lives and tackle e-waste.”
