A Very RAD Story of Impact in Aotearoa
Now in its fifth year of operation, Recycle A Device is going strong. There is a network of clubs all around the motu inspiring rangatahi and achieving some big social good objectives: minimising e-waste, upskilling the next generation in digital engineering, and providing schools and communities with devices for digital access.
How did we get here?
2020: Our origin story
In 2020, Owyn and Hadi at Aotea College in Porirua began refurbishing laptops to share with their peers. This came about as part of the YES Programme and after they worked with their dean on a BYOD support group as year 9 students. We’re grateful to these entrepreneurial and community-minded rangatahi for sparking something wonderful!
Digital Future Aotearoa heard about this initiative and tracked down Owyn and Hadi to meet with them. They discussed where it could go and how they could connect the right people to make it happen. From there, a pilot project was launched with 30 laptops and the support of Spark plus an array of fabulous organisations: Spark Foundation, Share My Super, Pam Fergusson Charitable Trust, The Southern Initiative, DFA, and Remojo Tech.
The official launch of Recycle A Device was on September 29th 2020, with the first laptop gifted.
Other milestones during this year included:
Proof of concept achieved with the successful refurbishment and gifting of the 30 laptops.
RAD officially becoming a national programme under DFA in October 2020.
New RAD clubs trained at Christchurch Boys High School in September 2020 and Te Wharekura o Mauao in October 2020.
Fix One, Keep One workshops developed in response to community need for laptops and education but without enough ongoing commitment for a club.
2020 was a time when digital access became a lifeline for many people in Aotearoa! Although it was a difficult time to get an initiative like this off the ground, we are grateful that RAD was able to equip some New Zealanders with what they needed to learn, work, and connect during ongoing lockdowns and isolation periods.
2021: Gaining momentum
As the nation continued to grapple with COVID lockdowns, Recycle A Device kept rolling. Milestones included:
Growing to a network of six clubs, adding Linwood College, Haeata Community Campus and Burnside High School all in July 2021.
Partnership with Entelar to wipe, assetise, store, and send laptops. Their generous gift of their services made it possible to scale the project.
The beginning of community partnership networks for gifting devices. Linwood Library and TechMate were some of the original RAD collaborators.
The fledgling RAD organisation won a CIO award for Sustainability through Technology.
During 2021, the original group at Aotea College/Remojo Tech trialled the repair of iPads and tablets. While the repairs themselves were successful, the cost meant that these were not added to the programme. Economies of scale brought the cost of laptop repairs down to around $40 per device at the time; to repair a tablet was costing closer to $100. You live and you learn!
2022-2024: Equipping communities (and winning awards)
Over the next three years, Recycle A Device came into its own and grew exponentially. By the end of 2024, there were almost 40 clubs established across the nation. Hundreds of rangatahi were being upskilled each year, and the number of laptops gifted increased from 1,277 in 2022 to 2,374 in 2023 and 2,920 in 2024. After around four years in operation, the total number of laptops gifted was at 7,000. That’s a lot of New Zealanders connected to the digital world!
Cost-per-device taking into account the entire operating budget of RAD was last calculated in 2024 at $146 per device, making it a very cost-effective way to help close the digital divide and address the e-waste issue in Aotearoa.
As the initiative began to have an impact, it started to receive national recognition. In 2022, RAD was named a finalist for the Tāmaki Makaurau Zero Waste Awards (Community Collaboration) and Hi‑Tech Awards (Contribution to NZ Tech Sector). In 2023, they won ‘Best Hi‑Tech Solution for Public Good’ at the Hi-Tech Awards while parent organisation DFA won ‘Best Contribution to the Hi‑Tech Sector’.
2025: Five years and into the future
RAD’s fifth birthday is the 29th of September 2025, marking half a decade since the first laptop was officially gifted during the pilot programme. Despite ongoing and ever-present funding struggles, the organisation is on track to reach a total of 10,000 laptops refurbished and gifted by the end of 2026.
While it’s an impressive number, the stories behind the figures are what are most exciting. Each gifted device has a tale to tell. There are older people able to access banking and other services from their homes, students now able to complete homework and get ahead at school, refugees set up with crucial digital access in their new homeland. There are also, of course, the talented and motivated rangatahi who learn valuable skills for their future with each refurbishment.
Milestones so far in 2025 have included:
RAD Club Hub launched for clubs to access up to date resources on their own website.
In-store laptop donation offered at Noel Leeming St Lukes for individuals and small businesses.
Digital Future Aotearoa being named the CIO Community Tech Champions for all programme mahi.
Legacy Awards being launched at Aotea College in honour of Owyn & Hadi.
Get on board
We’re excited to continue to steer the ship for Recycle A Device in years to come! All of the incredible outcomes we’ve seen over the years are made possible by generous donors and funders plus hundreds of volunteers across Aotearoa. If you want and are able to contribute to our ongoing impact in 2025 and beyond, you can:
