Circular economies are particularly relevant in the context of digital devices or electric and electronic equipment (EEE). Many digital devices built using scarce and potentially toxic materials have a too-short life instead of being repaired or reused. In addition, informal electronics recycling in the developed and developing world has emerged as a new global environmental concern. eReuse.org provides a set of open-source tools, procedures, open data, and services organised as a common-pool resource (CPR) to reach the circular economy of electronics by facilitating reuse, providing transparency and ensuring traceability until final recycling.

Device Diagnostic and Inventory

Workbench is software to assist in the diagnostic and inventory of digital devices (desktop, laptop, netbook or server). With its self-booting start-up, you don’t have to worry about which operating system is installed. Just boot your device with a CD/USB or network and test your system hardware, capture hardware characteristics for rating and serial number for traceability and reporting. After executing all the desired tools, Workbench generates an immutable hardware snapshot report with the results of the preparation for reuse process, that can be automatically uploaded in a device inventory system, protected from manual errors or tampering.

Device Hub

Device Hub is an IT Asset Management System (ITAMS) focused on circular device life-cycle management. After the device is included in a DeviceHub inventory, the preparer or giver tags the computer by printing its identifier and a QR code that points to the uniform resource locator (URL) where the device description is stored. We provide DeviceHub service instances for each organisation involved in eReuse.org.

Smartphone App (deprecated)

(no longer maintained) The eReuse.org App was a smartphone and tablet client for DeviceHub. It was focused on performing certain actions, like geolocating or visualizing devices, that benefit from the portability, camera and geolocalization features of smartphones and tablets and registering them to a DeviceHub by using a subset of Device Diagnostic and Inventory functionalities. The main features were: 1) Registering new geolocated places into DeviceHub and assigning devices to them. 2) Quickly perform different actions on devices. Some of these actions need geolocation data as they register where they have been performed, such as receptions and disposals. 3) Obtaining information about a device by scanning a printed QR code. The code is the URL of the device in the DeviceHub where it has been registered.

Global Registry of Devices – GRD (not public)

The Global Registry of Devices (GRD) is an online log and search engine which maintains a global list of traceability information about devices in a form that is equivalent to a digital product passport (DPP) for each, so it can assist when there is leakage or similar problems. GRD works with open data and is designed to be used with external users who want to report traceability information. At the same time, aggregates traceability data with the objective to be used as inputs for indicators measuring circularity indicators. GRD provides a REST API to allow ITAMS, as DeviceHub, to report the life-cycle of devices, environmental responsibilities for organizations, etc. It collects from each device, at least, the chassis identifiers and hardware changes it has undergone (not in detail to preserve personal privacy and business confidentiality), the DeviceHub where it has been stored (the URL), the collection points where it was located before its final recycling and, in the case of computers, the record of its components.

Directory of Collection Points – DCP (prototyped, deprecated)

To guarantee the final recycling of Digital devices, the eReuse.org community geo-locates all authorized collection points and asks their users to perform a geo-location action once they send devices to the collection for recycling. If the last recorded geo-location has been done within the geographical area of known collection points, we can say with some certainty that the devices have been collected to be recycled.

TransferHub (projected)

is a system that could manage the distribution channel, focused on simplifying transfers in the reusing process. It announces receivers and givers so they can find each other easily. Optionally, it could add regulation or transaction mechanisms. TransferHub would not manage the donation itself; it would interact with DeviceHub or similar ITAMS to acknowledge transferences and retrieve the available devices. TransferHub would have three main functionalities: 1) P2P: to enable peer-to-peer transfers without any regulation scheme. 2) Platform: based on a distributed platform ecosystem that supports the donation of devices to excluded collectives and projects for social change. A Social Platform is an umbrella that federates specific DeviceHubs from donors, receivers and other platforms, building an electronic reuse ecosystem. The main features would be capturing offers (donations) and demand (social projects), trading with reuse professional service providers (preparation, installation, maintenance), a donation service (legal advice), a payment system, social support crowdfunding and a recommendation system. 3) Selling services: adds the necessary to get paid by the transfer, for example, an online store.

Newsletter

To stay informed, please enter your email address below

Email address: