Continue reading »]]> Jamie’s Computers is a Southampton and Hampshire based computer recycling social enterprise that provides a complete computer decommissioning solution to businesses replacing their hardware.

We recycle all forms of IT including Mobile Phones.

We are registered with the Environment Agency as an Authorised Treatment Facility and can guarantee compliance with regulations, including the WEEE Directive, Duty of Care and Data Protection Act.

We can arrange a collection for your mobile phone recycling needs and any other IT disposal that you might need from anywhere in the South (including Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey, London, Dorset, Somerset, Sussex, Kent, Oxfordshire, Bucks, Wiltshire) but might ask for a small contribution towards transportation costs for locations outside of Hampshire. If you would like to arrange a collection now please fill out our contact form

Mobile-Phone-Recycling

Continue reading »]]> Jamie’s Computers is a Southampton and Hampshire based computer recycling social enterprise that provides a complete computer decommissioning solution to businesses replacing their hardware.

We recycle all forms of IT including Printer and Toner Cartridges.

We are registered with the Environment Agency as an Authorised Treatment Facility and can guarantee compliance with regulations, including the WEEE Directive, Duty of Care and Data Protection Act.

We can arrange a collection for your printer cartridge recycling needs and any other IT disposal that you might need from anywhere in the South (including Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey, London, Dorset, Somerset, Sussex, Kent, Oxfordshire, Bucks, Wiltshire) but might ask for a small contribution towards transportation costs for locations outside of Hampshire. If you would like to arrange a collection now please fill out our contact form

Printer Cartridge Recycling

Continue reading »]]> Recent changes to the rules on the disposal of electronic equipment have been made by the European Parliament. Below is a couple of extracts from an article written by the Guardian and our views on the new rulings.

The European Parliament has been criticised for waving through revised recycling rules on the disposal of electronic equipment without including any provision to promote the reuse of old equipment…..

However, UK-based IT charity Computer Aid slammed the new recycling rules as “extremely disappointing”, after MEPs ignored calls for a separate target to encourage the re-use of old electronic equipment that could be refurbished.

The organisation relies on donations from companies to ship refurbished IT equipment out to communities in Africa, Asia and South America, and had led calls for a binding reuse target as part of the new regulations.

Jamie’s Computers agrees with Computer Aid that it is more environmentally efficient to prolong the life of products where possible. Reusing a computer is up to 20 times better for the environment than breaking it up and recycling it. Manufacturing new computers to replace those that are recycled uses energy, fossil fuels and finite resources whereas prolonging the life of a computer is the best way to reduce the carbon footprint of IT.

Jamie’s Computers continues to find that there are many families and individuals on low incomes that can bennefit from low cost refurbished IT.

Continue reading »]]> Jamie’s Computers would like to thank you for all of your support and business this year.

2011 has been a fantastic year for us here which has seen the number of donated computers for charity that we have refurbished and recycled hit an all time high. We have received over 7000 base units, 3977 screens and 2292 laptops + many other items of IT  equipment.

All of which has been diverted from landfill and either refurbished or recycled ethically.

Not only does this service help the environment but it enables us to train and give work experience to many volunteers and probationers who have put in over 13,000 hours of volunteering this year.

At Jamie’s we offer work experience and hands-on training to hard-to-reach groups with the aim of increasing their skills and employability. Meaningful occupation such as this also leads to increased confidence and self-esteem, an increased ability to manage anger and improved communication and social skills. These opportunities are provided through and funded by the computer recycling and IT refurbishment side of Jamie’s.

As Jamie’s Computers is a charity we rely on businesses and individuals donating to us computers for charity rather than opting for the dump or a private sector competitor.

We believe though that their really is no choice!  Our service is FREE, ethical and bennefits both the local and extended community.

And to add to this we have won an internationally recognised award this year for our work –The International Green Apple Environment Award.

However none of this is possible without your support. If you are hoping to get a new computer/laptop for Christmas then please consider using Jamie’s to dispose of your old machine. Likewise if your business is upgrading in the coming months then please book in a free collection for your old IT equipment and support our work.

Our data destruction service guarantees that none of your data can be retrieved and that your business is fully compliant.

To book a collection or to find out more please contact us

If you know someone else that could bennefit from our services then please let them know. We collect used IT from all over the South of England.

Continue reading »]]> Jamie’s Computers based in Southampton was delighted to recieve some exciting news.

The green organisation has awarded us a Green Apple Environment Award for our computer recycling social enterprise. Hoorah!

Jamie’s Computers achieved the silver award in the charity category

We competed against more than 500 other nominations and as a result of this success we have been invited to have a paper published in the Green Book, the leading international work of reference on environmental best practice, so that others around the world can follow our computer recycling example and learn from our experience.

The Green Apple Award began in 1994 and have become established as the country’s major recognition for environental endeavour amoung companies, councils, communities and countries.

The awards are organised by The Green Organisation, an independent, non-political, non-activist, non-profit environment group dedicated to recognising and promoting environmental best practice.

Judges for the Green Apple Award are drawn from the Environment Agency, the Charted Institute of Environmental Health, the Chartered Institution for Wastes Management and other independent bodies.

Continue reading »]]> There are a number of questions to think about when considering your own personal or business data security. What is a hard drive? How does it work? How can you protect the data on it?

What is a hard drive? The hard drive is a piece of  hardware responsible for storing information about your computer or mobile phone etc.  Basically it consists of a couple of boards, a platter for storing data and a write head which actually transfers electronic data to your platter for later use.

How does a hard drive work? The hard drive in your personal computer or business computer functions much like a cd player!  To put it simply a hard drive contains a “platter” or disc which stores electronic data ( a series of 1′s and 0′s along with a few other characters) written in partitions (picture a pie already cut into slices, each slice would be a partition) and saved making data such as documents, applications and computer programs accessable to users.

Secure Data Destruction should involve two aspects, a secure, thorough data destruciton process and responsible disposal of the hard ware. Protecting your personal or business data is extremely important and should never be overlooked.  Ensuring data security is easier than you think, yet some commonly used data destruction or “hard drive destruction” practices are comically uneffective and harmful to your local environment!

Searching the internet for “hard drive destruction” or “how to destroy a hard drive” will often land you on a youtube video of some fellow with a hammer attempting to smash his home computer’s hard drive. While this approach may serve as a stress reliever and a good 2 minutes of online entertainment, there are much more safe and effective ways to securely and responsibly dispose of an old or sensitive hard drive.

Destroying your hard drive data and disposing of the left over hard ware should be single process.  Simply throwing your self destroyed hard drive in the house hold rubbish contributes to the growing amount of electronic waste (ewaste) found in landfills. As our world population continues to become ever more dependent on electronics the amount of electronic waste produced is expected to grow world wide by 17 percent in the next five years.

By contacting a compliant electronics recycling company, such as Jamie’s Computers you can assure data security and responsible recycling of your hazardous ewaste.

How to really destroy hard drive data? This question leads to the common misconception that the data on your hard drive can be “destroyed.”  The only way to thoroughly and compliantly ”destroy” your data is through an electronic process, often refered to as “ghosting” or “whiping,”  simply formating your hard drive DOES NOT render your personal or business data unobtainable!

The term “electronic data destruction,” actually refers to a process of re-writing a random series of 1′s, 0′s and a few other characters over the current data stored on your hard drive platter. At Jamie’s Computers all hard-drives received are wiped using Blancco software which guarantees the unrecoverable removal of 100% of data. This service is free of charge. Data destruction offers advantages over physical destruction as it allows a device that’s safe for second life, applications such as donations, redeployment or even sale.

Blancco is widely accepted as the industry-leading data destruction software. It was the first software to receive CESG-certification to InfoSec 5 standard and meets all recognised international data destruction standards, including those set by the UK’s Communications Electronics Security Group (CESG) and the US Department of Defence.

Remember when it comes to secure data destruction and electronics recycling, contact a certified electronics recycling service.  Some electronics recycling services will even offer a certificate of secure data destruction!  Secure your data and Recycle Responsibly!

Continue reading »]]> For the rest of this year (2011) Jamie’s Computers, a Southampton based computer recycling charity is offering 100% free IT collections in the South.

Jamie’s Computers offers a free professional and secure IT disposal service to businesses and individuals but not everyone knows that we will go to businesses across the South to collect.

We can arrange a collection from anywhere in the South and therefore offer charitable computer recycling London, Dorset, Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey, Sussex, and Wiltshire.

If you would like us to collect any redundent IT from you please just fill out our contact form by clicking this link.

Continue reading »]]> Jamie’s Computers based in Southampton has just recieved some exciting news.

The green organisation has written to us to confirm that we have won a Green Apple Environment Award for our computer recycling social enterprise. Hoorah!

We competed against more than 500 other nominations and will be presented with our trophy at the House of Commons in November, but until then we will not know exactly what level of award we will recieve (Gold, Silver or Bronze).

As a result of this success we have been invited to have a paper published in the Green Book, the leading international work of reference on environmental best practice, so that others around the world can follow our computer recycling example and learn from our experience.

The Green Apple Awards began in 1994 and have become established as the country’s major recognition for environental endeavour amoung companies, councils, communities and countries.

The awards are organised by The Green Organisation, an independent, non-political, non-activist, non-profit environment group dedicated to recognising and promoting environmental best practice.

Judges for the Green Apple Awards are drawn from the Environment Agency, the Charted Institute of Environmental Health, the Chartered Institution for Wastes Management and other independent bodies.

Continue reading »]]> Jamie’s Computers would like to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who took part in our IT Amnesty at Asda in Chandler’s Ford last weekend! Not only was the sun shining, the day was a great success. We collected 41 laptops, 52 monitors, 105 base units, 42 printers, 13 scanners, 1 server and a mountain of cable which we can also make good use of.

The amount of equipment that we collected through our  IT Amnesty took us 3 trips in our van to get back to our warehouse in Southampton, where it was then sorted by staff and volunteers and prepared for refurbishment or recycling. Many of the laptops we receive had the data wiped* and were then made ready for resale in our sales room whilst many of the base units will be sent abroad to be used for learning and training purposes in developing countries. Any equipment we cannot make use of is broken down into its component parts and recycled.

Team Jamie's collecting at the ASDA IT Amnesty

In addition to receiving a fantastic amount of equipment at Asda on Saturday, we had the chance to promote Jamie’s Computers within our local community and encourage people to dispose of their equipment in a way that is both socially and environmentally friendly. By making use of the free IT disposal service we offer, you can help prevent useable equipment ending up in landfill sites and can also help to support the continuation of our social enterprise. Any income generated by Jamie’s is put back into providing services for homeless and vulnerable people in the city, through the Society of St James.

We hope to run similar IT Amnesties in other areas in the future so please continue to check our Facebook page and our website for details. In the meantime, if you missed us at Asda and still have equipment you would like to dispose of, please visit us in Mount Pleasant Industrial Estate, Monday – Friday from 10am-4.30pm. Alternatively, if your workplace has business equipment they no longer need, please call us to arrange a collection on 02380 632198.

* The hard drives that were damaged and that are unable to be wiped get shredded.

Continue reading »]]> Jamie’s Computers offers a free professional and secure IT disposal service to businesses and individuals but not everyone knows that we will go to businesses across the South to collect.

We can arrange a collection from anywhere in the South and therefore offer charitable computer recycling Dorset, Hampshire, Berkshire, Surrey, London, Sussex, and Wiltshire.

Although our disposal servce is *free we will ask for a contribution towards transportation costs for locations outside of Hampshire.

Equipment Accepted

Jamie’s Computers will take the following items FREE OF CHARGE for all business:

• All base units
• All laptops
• TFT monitors
• CRT monitors
• Servers
• Digital Projectors
• Cable
• Mice
• Keyboards
• Anything IT

The only items we chare for disposing of are UPS and Large printers/photocopiers.

If you would like us to collect any redundent IT from you please just fill out our contact form by clicking this link.