Only A Pavement Away, the UK charity dedicated to helping those facing homelessness, prison leavers and veterans find careers in the hospitality sector, has this month announced a partnership with IT Asset Disposal Company, DSA Connect (DSAC) and are calling on businesses to donate their redundant IT equipment to help raise money for the charity.

Many businesses and organisations can find themselves with redundant IT and telecoms equipment.  This could be due to periodic equipment refreshes, downsizing or office relocations and closures.  Recovering redundant equipment from across the UK, DSA Connect provide a secure and transparent IT asset disposal service that allows for the complete removal of IT equipment and the destroying of all data contained on devices. 

Since mid-2021, DSAC have also set up workshops within 2 prisons, HMP Chelmsford, Essex, and HMP The Mount, to train personnel in the processing of non-data bearing IT equipment. Not only have these workshops proven efficient at supporting the circular economy but also offer prison residents the chance to learn valuable skills that can be transferred to a work environment upon release.

With Only a Pavement Away & DSAC sharing the common goal of helping prison leavers back into the workplace - the partnership was a natural fit.

“We’re committed to working with prison leavers to give them the additional support they need to find work on the outside, and helping the hospitality sector to give someone a life chance and potentially, grow new talent, said Greg Mangham, Founder of Only A Pavement Away. “This partnership offers the perfect opportunity for the hospitality sector to safely recycle redundant IT equipment while helping to raise money for Only A Pavement Away and supporting the IT Prison Workshop Initiative.”

Once the data has been securely removed from all items by DSAC, the items are transported into the prison workshops where the residents will log, audit, test all items. These items are then either refurbished, upgraded or recycled under the guidance of DSAC.
Those items ready for resale are cleaned, de-badged and packaged for re-sale by the residents. The saleable items are returned to DSAC where they are remarketed and sold. Once sold, DSAC donates 50% of all sales income to Only A Pavement Away and no charges are made to the charity

To enquire about donating your redundant IT equipment to support Only A Pavement Away please contact info@dsa-connect.co.uk  who can arrange a collection. Please mention that you wish to donate to Only A Pavement Away.
Only a Pavement Away will also be holding a Redundant IT “Amnesty Day” where businesses who have smaller quantities of hardware can drop off at a central London location - further details to be announced soon.

The types of equipment that DSAC collect (although this list is not exhaustive) includes:

Laptops | PCs | Monitors | Servers | Networking Equipment | Thin Clients | Smart & Mobile Phones | Desk Phones | Tablets | Audio-Visual Equipment | Printers | Scanners | Hard Drives | Data Tapes | E-Readers | Cable | Connectors

• All data will be securely removed by DSA Connect, fully accredited in accordance with the National Cyber Security Centre protocols.
• Your equipment will be prepared, upgraded, refurbished and de-branded ready for re-sale.
• Money from this re-sale will be paid directly to Only A Pavement Away.
• The accredited training received by the prisoners in the workshops prepare them for employment upon release. It is a fact that ex-offenders with employment upon release are 60% less likely to reoffend.

Only A Pavement Away, the hospitality sector charity supporting prison leavers, veterans and those facing homelessness into employment.

For more information about the DSA Connects processes and Prison Workshops visit www.dsa-connect.co.uk