The Family Guide to Digital Freedom

Computers cost a lot and pollute a lot when they are manufactured or trashed. To see it with your eyes, plase have a quick look at this E-waste and Trashware gallery on Flickr. Luckily any computer, until it physically breaks, is only old as the software it runs.

It doesn't make sense to dismiss a computer only because the new version of some software programs is too heavy for it. By choosing the right software, any computer can remain useful for much longer than you originally thought.

There are a lot of volunteer organizations which help school and charities to extend the lives of their computers in this way by installing software wich, besides being less resource-hungry, is also free from license costs: this activity is often called trashware. To know more about trashware, you may want to read this article on how trashware is rightware for all cash-strapped organizations (including families, of course!).

Below there is a partial list of trashware organizations, to allow you to easily find the one closer to your school or neighborhood. Over time, it will become a searchable database.

You are welcome at any time to post any question or suggestion you may have about trashware in the Digifreedom Forums.

• Australia: ComputerBank New England Inc.
• Italy:there are tenths of traswhare organizations active in every part of Italy. The most updated list is always at the Italian Trashware Wiki