[_448]

Do they?

I was working for a big US tech company in the UK. They regularly use to give servers and computers for decommissioning/dismantling. Once I asked if I could get those servers and computers to give it to schools and students who could not afford to buy one. I was told that it is not legal to give company computer away. There are restrictions on giving company computers in the open market, even if it is free.

[mistrial9]

this is entirely a matter of policy and not "illegal"

source: used computers trade in California

[pbalau]

Is a matter of policy and the reason for this policy is to avoid being sued.

Afaik, in uk, schools and the likes need to get warranties for everything "donated" in an effort to not become an e-waste dumping ground.

[GekkePrutser]

Same in Ireland. Even if we gave employees their own old laptop to keep, we were told this would possibly put the company on the hook for warranty claims.

Instead what they did with the old non-leased hardware was that they said we had to bring it back when we were done with transferring our old stuff over (wink wink). But of course this model is not possible with a completely different party.

[wmf]

Hyperscalers sell decommissioned equipment; they don't give it away for free.