Only half of UCL students feel confident that they have enough money to meet their basic living costs, and 1 in 4 students are regularly going without food or other necessities. These are challenging times to be a student. Because of this, Students’ Union UCL has established a Hardship Fund to help students in financial difficulty. The fund is topped up by generous donations, and Students Union UCL have already supported students with more than £200,000 of financial support this year.
Students’ Union UCL are always looking for innovative ways to increase the number of students they can support and have partnered with Genuine Solutions under a two-year agreement to help the whole UCL community reduce waste and raise vital funds for students.
Students, and members of the UCL team will be searching their drawers, as well as asking their friends and family, to gather up and donate any old mobile phones, mobile accessories, tablets and laptops. Genuine Solutions will recover, resell, or ethically recycle the donated tech to help raise funds for the UCL Hardship Fund whilst helping the UCL community to reduce e-waste.
These donations will help support students to access their education at UCL or help support students in emergency situations like facing homelessness. Students’ Union UCL’s hardship funds also help students access extra-curricular activity, reducing loneliness and improving mental health.
You can read more about the different hardship funds on offer through the Students’ Union.
How it works
From 17 January 2024, unwanted tech can be dropped off on the ground floor Students’ Union reception desk at 25 Gordon Street, WC1H 0AY.
We’re looking for smart phones, laptops, tablets & associated accessories like charge cables, chargers, and headsets.
Once received, Students’ Union UCL will ship the donated tech to the Genuine Solutions processing hub where our expert technicians will grade and segment it into different categories.
All devices will be data-wiped using industry standard software accredited by ADISA. If devices cannot be powered up, motherboards will be securely destroyed to prevent any risk of data breaches.
Some of the donated tech will be repaired and resold, and some will just be responsibly recycled. Money raised from tech that can be resold will help keep the Students’ Union UCL hardship funds topped up.
Please note, if you are donating smart devices, please ensure cloud accounts (iCloud or Google) are removed as we will be unable to unlock them. For more information on how to prepare and remove these accounts from your device please click here.
Anyone can donate, if you have any unwanted tech and would like to support Students’ Union UCL Hardship Fund, you can do so by sending it directly to Genuine Solutions, UCL Hardship Fund, 10 Silverglade Business Park, Leatherhead Road, Chessington, Surrey, KT9 2QL.
