Flipping Ed Tech with the De-Construction Zone

What if e-waste could become a pathway to digital literacy and economic opportunity? The De-Construction Zone, a collaboration between eSmart Recycling and the Foundation for Community Driven Innovation, repurposes discarded technology into a hands-on training tool that inspires environmental responsibility, builds digital literacy and equity, and reinvests proceeds from e-waste recycling into edtech for upskilling and employment. Providing devices alone leaves workforce pathways incomplete without intentional efforts to help people use technology intelligently and safely and translate those skills into academic, career and entrepreneurship opportunities. This session shares how De-Construction Zones have been deployed in HCPS schools, where curriculum support and companion toolsets have been developed, and how the program is ready to scale. Learn how upcycled commercial technology can become cost-effective, engaging edtech with strong academic and workforce returns, and leave knowing how to bring this program into your own school or vocational programming.