Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) donated 300 refurbished laptops to the nonprofit Boys Hope Girls Hope as kids head back to school, in most cases via remote learning, and in some cases without the needed equipment and connectivity to enable learning from home.

The school year is officially – and mostly virtually – in session across the country due to the coronavirus. While remote learning physically protects students from contracting and spreading the virus, it also further deepens the digital divide, or the gap between those who have access to technology and those who don’t.

HPE’s donation of refurbished laptops will accommodate students and families that lack access to the necessary technology, said Irv Rothman, president and CEO of HPE financial services, in a statement. “In crises such as this one, all businesses seek to preserve cash flow, and nonprofits have to mobilize even more creativity to continue serving their communities,” Rothman said. “Leveraging preowned technology can help.”

HPE has long championed its circular economy initiatives, which aim to eliminate waste by using products as long as possible and then recovering materials at the end of life for reuse in new products. 

To curb the growing environmental impacts of the “take, make, dispose” IT production and consumption cycle, HPE opened Technology Renewal Centers in Andover, Massachusetts and Erskine, Scotland. The goal of these facilities is to “help extend the life of technology whenever possible, and securely and responsibly recycle materials where appropriate.” 

According to the company, more than 89% of products brought into recycling centers are refurbished and sold to new customers.

HPE isn’t the only IT vendor with recycling efforts underway. Last year Dell Technologies unveiled its one-for-one recycling pledge that calls for the company to recycle an equivalent product for each one that a customer buys. 

Thus far, 2020 has created supply-chain related shortages in toilet paper, dumbbells, and meat. And now there are nationwide shortages and long delays of up to several months in getting this year’s most crucial back-to-school supplies — laptops — into students’ hands.

If companies want to help customers and communities weather COVID-19, recycling, recovering, and reusing materials that are collecting dust in storage closets is more important than ever before.