Bahrain Computer Repair Centre (BCRC) has launched a new initiative to recycle old laptop computers and also plans to use parts from old computers, which might otherwise be discarded - posing a risk to the environment..

The Bahraini firm is offering service and repair coupons to anyone who takes in their old and disused laptops.

'Generally people throw away their old laptops once they are irreparable,' said BCRC operations manager Sai Krishnan.
'If they are not thrown away, they just lie at home gathering dust with no use to anyone.'

'The discarded laptop contains all kinds of toxics and other harmful material and just throwing it away is not a solution.'

'We will try and reuse some of the parts in the laptops if possible and pass on the rest to experts to be disposed off in an environmentally friendly way. If it is repairable, we shall do that as well.'

The company recently launched a 'reverse logistics' repair centre, which aims to make use of goods that would otherwise have been thrown away - or at least dispose off them properly.

'This has proved a huge success and hundreds of customers have benefited,' said Krishnan. 'This also means we are able to repair most laptops that have been given up for dead by other service centres.'

Krishnan said customers could drop off unwanted laptops at the BCRC offices at the Capital Centre, Manama, Spikes Computers, Riffa, and Mars Innovation, Exhibition Avenue.

'We can also send our collection teams to pick up the laptops from people's homes if required,' he added.

The initiative comes weeks after telecom company Zain Bahrain launched its own drive to encourage the country's mobile phone users to swap their broken and irreparable handsets for a chance to win new ones as part of an initiative combating e-waste.-TradeArabia News Service