Trainees and students of dual-system students working at the Cologne-based plastics specialist igus donate €5,000 to the animal welfare organisation Notpfote Animal Rescue from Neuss

With their own trainee company “reguse”, the trainees and students of the Cologne-based company igus ensure that old electronic devices from igus employees find a second life within an environmentally friendly circular economy. They donate part of their annual turnover to charitable organisations. This year, €5,000 will go to the animal welfare organisation Notpfote Animal Rescue from Neuss.

A frequently recurring problem in everyday life: the old smartphone is actually still fine. However, the new contract includes the latest model. The old device ends up in the rubbish bin. Many people replace televisions and computers just as quickly. As a result, a huge amount of electronic waste ends up in waste collection centres every year. In Germany alone, according to the Federal Statistical Office, this amounted to 900 thousand tonnes in 2022. To put this into perspective, this corresponds to the weight of 600,000 medium-sized cars, each weighing 1.5t. Every year, igus also generates around 5t of old electronic devices that employees no longer need, including notebooks, PCs, monitors and company mobile phones. To use these resources more sustainably and give devices a second life, “reguse” was founded in 2019. This project is run by trainees and students at igus. They technically refurbish the disused devices and offer them to employees and their families at favourable prices for private use. “It’s a good feeling to save electronic devices from being scrapped and thus make a valuable contribution to protecting the environment,” says Leander Plum, student of General Management.

“reguse” donates €5,000 to an animal welfare organisation

“We sat down together and thought long and hard about which organisation we would like to donate the €5,000 to this year,” says Plum. “In the end, we decided in favour of Notpfote Animal Rescue, an association based in Neuss that has been committed to the protection and rescue of animals since 2011.” The focus of attention is the first German shelter for feathered friends in Neuss, which looks after former laying hens and wild birds such as ducks and geese. The organisation is also involved internationally and cares for endangered animals in Turkish earthquake regions, for example.

“I’ve never heard of a comparable project”

Trainees and students from a wide range of disciplines are involved in “reguse”, including IT trainees, industrial clerks and students from the fields of general management and industrial engineering. The “reguse” project gives them the opportunity to form a completely independent organisation and gain valuable practical experience. “It is truly unique that we, as young people in training, are allowed to take on so much responsibility for our own ‘company’,” says Plum. “I haven’t heard of a comparable project at university or among my friends and acquaintances.”