The University of Nottingham is donating its old PCs to charity to be re-used abroad, boosting its social credentials while ensuring compliance with the Waste Electrical and Electrical Equipment (WEEE) directive.

Computer Aid International will be given the 500 computers, which will be refurbished and distributed to disadvantaged schools in Chile and across South America.

“As a prestigious education establishment in a wealthy country it’s great to know that our old equipment is being used to boost education in other parts of the world,” said Phil Andrews from the Nottingham University operations team.

The WEEE directive aims to minimise the impact of electrical and electronic goods on the environment by increasing re-use and recycling and reducing the amount of waste going to landfill.

Operating by a "polluter pays" principle, WEEE makes IT manufacturers take on disposal responsibilities for e-waste by signing up with a government-approved waste-handling firm that ensures customers can easily return their IT equipment at end of life.

Last month, a year on from the implementation of the directive in the UK, there were suggestions that waste-handling firms were failing because they were not supplying the government with a breakdown of the equipment they were collecting.

But Andrews said the use of Computer Aid to dispose of the university’s IT equipment had given him great piece of mind. “Computer Aid provides all the legal documentation necessary to prove WEEE compliance,” he said.