REUSE 2.0: a sustainability and innovation platform for the reuse of IT equipment at UFRN
IT Equipment Disposal, Technology and Innovation; Reuse; IT Sustainability
ssues involving the sustainability of Information Technology (IT) in educational institutions are one of the pillars of management and teaching at universities, since the inadequate disposal of IT products can be a source of environmental contamination and waste of resources. Therefore, the objective of this work was to identify how to control IT assets that can be reused, or the disassembly of their electronic components for reuse in other machines. To this end, the improvement of an existing technological platform, REUSE, was proposed, aiming to improve the IT sustainability index, minimize the disposal of IT products and reuse of equipment at UFRN, with the objective of contributing to the construction of a more efficient, sustainable and economically viable technology management model, encouraging the reuse of equipment and reducing environmental impact. To this end, a work was carried out to monitor the process of disposal of assets and REUSE, which is a tool for transferring assets, which can be used elsewhere, but are of no interest to their original department. The data collection using reuse allowed us to identify that, at first, there was only one product registered on the website and, at the second moment, in October 2024, there were no products registered in REUSE. Among the possible reasons for this, the need to change the institutional environment and the entire manual (non-automated) process for the actions of registration, demonstration of interest and transfer of items were identified. Therefore, changes were proposed in the location and access to REUSE, and automation of processes, aiming to facilitate the registration of items, demonstration of interest and the process of transfer between units. This process is in the implementation and evaluation phase. However, IT sustainability in federal public universities is a complex challenge, but also an opportunity to promote innovation, reduce costs and contribute to a more sustainable future. Therefore, by expanding the use of sustainable practices, universities can become a reference in environmental management and inspire other institutions to follow the same path.