Eskilstuna Municipality buys used computers, and in
doing so, has reduced their IT equipment costs by 50-60%.
"It gives positive effects. We get more money for
health and social care and at the same time we reduce our environmental
impact," says Hans Gardelin, Head of Customer Service in the Service
Management, Consultancy and Assignments department in Eskilstuna.
During 2014, Eskilstuna Municipality signed a
framework agreement with Inrego regarding the procurement of used and
reconditioned IT products. Before this, they generally bought new equipment.
"We did a preliminary study on the service life
of IT equipment from an economic and environmental perspective, and saw that
there was great potential in reused IT," says Hans Gardelin, Department
Manager for Customer Services, which includes providing IT support to the
different departments.
Since the autumn of 2014, the Local Education
Authority and Health and Social Care Authority have procured about 650
computers for their operations under the framework agreement with Inrego. The
manufacture of IT uses large amounts of resources and Eskilstuna's choice of
procuring used products has so far reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 23,480
kg, which represents the amount of energy needed to heat more than 100 flats
for one year.
"The computers work just as well as new equipment
and we also get the same guarantees as we do when we buy new equipment. I
myself have a used laptop and I can't even tell it is second-hand."
According to Hans Gardelin the cost for the
reconditioned computers was 50-60 per cent lower than buying new ones.
"It's simple maths, and means that more money can
go into our core activities," says Hans Gardelin.
He notes that all of the administrations have the
opportunity to buy equipment under the framework agreement and believes that
more will do so.
"Now we are looking at buying reconditioned student computers for schools, among other things. We are also investigating the possibility of allowing our old equipment to be reused instead of recycling it."