MORE should be done to encourage the refurbishment of computers, instead of adding to the two million tonnes of electronic waste generated in the UK each year.

That is the view of a Poole company which is set to turn over £7.5million a year overhauling ex-corporate PCs, laptops and tablets and re-selling them.

CFA Trading aims to be one of Europe’s leading refurbishers of computers. It says buying a refurbished PC or laptop saves 1,500 litres of water, 3,000kWh of electricity, 22kg of chemicals and 700kg of CO2.

But Leon Lindblad, managing director and co-founder of the business, says there needs to be an industry certification scheme to give the sector a better name. And he says government should set an example by being prepared to buy refurbished tech.

“I think the refurbished IT industry has a bit of a bad reputation. One of the things I’m trying to start at the moment is a certified and refurbished standard,” he said.

He said government departments will not currently buy refurbished computers.

CFA Trading was set up as a husband-and-wife operation 15 years ago, trading laptops and PCs from a spare room. It acquired a warehouse two years afterwards and later shifted to recycling and repairing, becoming an authorised Microsoft refurbisher in 2013.

The company erases data, refurbishes machines inside and out and reprints keyboard.

“If you get 1,000 computers in, 970 of them will go out as grade A stock,” said Mr Lindblad.

He said refurbishment could allow people to buy a better computer than they could get new for the same money.

“A refurbished corporate machine is better than a brand new consumer machine you buy in a shop,” he said.

“When it’s been refurbished, it will run faster.

“All the computers are much stronger built, they’re much better and spare parts are much more readily available.

“You buy a consumer laptop and if it goes down 14 months later, you can’t buy spare parts to fix it.”

The organisation Wrap (Waste and Resources Action Programme) says two million tonnes of electronic waste is discarded in the UK each year.

Mr Lindblad said: “One of the aims of my company si to have as little environmental impact as possible.

"All our packaging now is fully recyclable. It didn’t cost me any extra – I just went to my supplier and said I need to have recyclable materials and can’t accept any plastic. They went, ‘That’s fine, it’s the same price’.”