Institutional portal - Municipality of Milan

They will be donated to girls and boys in difficulty reported by the Municipality

Milan, March 15 2021 – Support the girls and boys most in difficulty and start a virtuous path of circular economy. This is the objective of RIAVVIA MI, a social initiative promoted by Lenovo in collaboration with the Municipality of Milan, the Metropolitan City and the Jesurum Social Energy Association to help needy families in the city and the metropolitan area of ​​Milan through the donation of Refurbished PCs, Lenovo tablets and Motorola smartphones.

People or companies who decide to join RIAVAIL MI will be able to register on www.spaziolenovo.com/riavviami to donate devices they no longer use. Volunteers will take care of the device, organize its collection and Lenovo will send the donor a 15% discount voucher on the purchase of Lenovo and Motorola products. Compatibly with health protocols, it will also be possible to deliver the devices directly to Spazio Lenovo.

The starting point of the RIAVVIA MI project was an analysis of citizens' needs initiated by the Municipality of Milan which carried out a mapping of needs, in order to identify the possible beneficiaries of the initiative. Among these, children in the age group between 14 and 18 emerge above all who must maintain educational continuity.
Once the products have been taken care of, an initial assessment of the conditions will be carried out, after which the device will be sanitized and reconditioned, ready to be donated. Recovery and maintenance costs will be covered by Lenovo. If it is not possible to recondition the devices, they will be disposed of according to WEEE regulations. Through reuse, up to 5 thousand devices will be able to have a second life, promoting the circular economy and helping to promote sustainability.
Furthermore, in support of RIAVVIA MI, Lenovo Foundation will allocate an amount of 50 thousand euros to allow the identification and implementation of interventions also aimed at nursery schools.

“Thanks to the alliance between public and private – declare the councilors Laura Galimberti (Education) and Roberta Cocco (Digital Transformation and Civic Services) – we are taking a further step forward in the transition process towards teaching that cannot ignore the direct relationship between teachers and students, but which finds an enhancement in technological innovation, which is necessary not only in this difficult period, but also for the school of the future. A path in which, thanks above all to the collaboration that has developed with the companies present in the area, no one will be left behind. Furthermore, thanks to Lenovo, we will start a process of reusing devices, with a view to a circular economy to which girls and boys have proven to be very sensitive in recent years".

“In a historical moment in which we are facing unprecedented situations and difficulties – declares Luca Rossi, Senior Vice President of Lenovo Group –, we believe it is essential that a company like Lenovo can successfully return value to the communities in which it operates. When we inaugurated Spazio Lenovo, we immediately embraced Mayor Sala's invitation to make it a meeting place between the public and private sectors and also thanks to initiatives such as RIAVVIA MI we can contribute to the well-being of the city of Milan, both by supporting the most in need and by promoting a culture of reuse that fuels the circular economy and environmental sustainability".

“For the Metropolitan City of Milan – commented Arianna Censi, deputy mayor of the Metropolitan City of Milan – it is a source of pride to be part of a project that combines solidarity and reuse. Unfortunately, the pandemic has further increased inequalities in Italian society, in this sense the world of schools, families, boys and girls are paying a very high price. The economic difficulties in which many families in Milan and in our metropolitan area have found themselves have led to problems in accessing technological equipment and internet connection, which are fundamental in distance learning. School dropouts and the psychological difficulties found among a growing number of children have a clear correlation with the increase in the technological gap. In this context, it is imperative for us public administrators to take action to combat inequalities and remove the obstacles that prevent the full exercise of the right to education, so initiatives like this which see a virtuous collaboration between public and private partners are welcome".

“We are really proud – says Michela Jesurum, founder of Energie Sociali Jesurum – to have contributed to this fruitful meeting between the public and private sectors, which, in addition to fully responding to the mission that Energie Sociali Jesurum has always pursued, has given rise, through an action targeted and concrete, to the affirmation of values ​​that are central to us, such as those connected to welfare and environmental protection".