Over the past 12 months, Auckland Council has received a return of over $200,000 from their decommissioned assets through a collaboration with PB Tech.
This partnership represents a step change in the refurbishment of end-of-life assets.
Auckland Council has also set a new sustainability benchmark by giving the devices a second life in the New Zealand economy.
PB Tech enables them to do this by refurbishing and selling devices back into New Zealand ourselves – no middleman, no devices going offshore.
In addition to giving devices a second life, organisations can also offer staff the opportunity to buy back their decommissioned devices or choose to donate devices to disadvantaged local communities through PB Tech.
"This is a genuine confluence of PB Tech Government's core capabilities with things that are good for the Auckland Council and good for New Zealand.
It's a fun project working with great people at the Council and everyone wins," said PB Tech Head of Government and Health Peter Bull.
Since last year, close to $200,000 has been returned to the council through a new partnership between the council's ICT Device Management Team and PB Tech who are now on board to refurbish our end-of-life equipment.
Through the partnership, PB Tech are recycling our laptops, desktops, tablets and mobile phones, and then making them available for sale to the public as 'second-hand' devices.
Along with impressive financial returns to the council, our continuing partnership with PB Tech significantly reduces our e-waste.
Julia Morunga from the Device Management Team says that keeping our kaimahi connected requires a significant investment in devices, which within four years are often no longer fit-for-purpose.
"We were very conscious of the huge amount of technology that was at risk of ending up in landfill and that didn't sit well with us."
The team decided to champion a new approach which was sustainable, environmentally friendly, and ethically responsible.
"We kicked off a procurement process in conjunction with Auckland Transport, asking vendors to make their pitch. We decided to partner with PB Tech who have been re-purposing hardware for over ten years. They were a great fit for what we wanted to achieve, and we were very excited to move forward and to contribute to delivering on council's Waste Management and Minimisation Plan."
Sue Veitch, Head of ICT Service Management said, "I'm delighted that our old devices have the potential for a longer life, instead of being broken down as e-waste. We already work with the Southern Initiative and Recycle a Device, who take a small quantity of our old devices, but PB Tech can take large volumes on a consistent basis, recycle them and provide us with a financial return."
"Knowing that our old tech has a second life with people in the community who may not be able to afford new equipment gave our team a buzz too - we're playing a small part in bridging the digital divide!" says Veitch.
The future is positive too, with the financial returns growing as the number of devices in the programme increases. The revenue from PB Tech sales goes back into the Service Management budget for new devices, driving a circular economy for the council.