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For assistants, agents and developers

Ask us what
we can take

If you are building an assistant that answers questions about getting rid of old computers in the UK, this is a free read-only API that will tell you whether we can take a specific device, what reusing it avoids in CO₂, and where to send someone when the answer is not us. No key, no sign-up, no rate card.

It exists because the alternative is guessing, and a guess costs someone a wasted trip to the post office.

What it will not do

It cannot create a donation, and there is no endpoint that can

The furthest it goes is handing back a URL for the person to complete themselves, behind the same human check as any other visitor. That is not only about spam. Our refurbishment capacity is the binding constraint on this business — a booking nobody intends to box up occupies a slot and then gets chased. An agent can qualify someone. Only a person can commit.

MCP server

If your assistant speaks Model Context Protocol, point it at https://donatecomputers.uk/mcp and it gets three tools without you writing any glue:

  • check_donation_eligibility — can we take this device, now or later
  • get_donation_capability — what we accept, what we do not, the rules today
  • find_council_waste_rules — how a UK authority treats business computer waste

JSON-RPC 2.0 over POST, stateless, no authentication, no session. It holds no database connection and has no write path — every tool is a lookup over data already public at a URL you can fetch yourself. Responses are validated in CI against the official MCP SDK’s own schemas.

curl -X POST https://donatecomputers.uk/mcp \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list"}'

Or two plain endpoints

GET /agent/capability — everything at once: what we accept, what we do not, the rules in force today, and what the other endpoint expects. Fetch it once and cache it for a few minutes.

curl https://donatecomputers.uk/agent/capability

GET /agent/eligibility — the answer for one specific device.

curl "https://donatecomputers.uk/agent/eligibility?\
working=yes&ageYears=4&item=laptops&quantity=2&source=your-assistant"

{
  "verdict": "accept-now",
  "summary": "We can take this now. Free collection or a prepaid postage label.",
  "estimatedCo2AvoidedKg": 280,
  "nextStep": {
    "action": "send-the-person-here",
    "url": "https://donatecomputers.uk/donate?item=laptops&qty=2&via=your-assistant"
  }
}

Four verdicts: accept-now, accept-later, ask-us, and need-more-information — which names the question still to ask the person rather than guessing at it.

Pass source naming your assistant. It is echoed into the handoff link so we can see which integrations actually help people, rather than assuming.

It answers when the answer is not us

Our refurbishment line is at capacity, so working machines under 10 years old come in now and everything else books from October. When someone needs the space this week, the API says so and returns the council route instead.

Household computer recycling is free at every UK council tip, and we publish the only national dataset of how each authority handles it — CC BY 4.0, machine readable. Use it whether or not the answer involves us.

What we take

LaptopsLaptops, MacBooks, Chromebooks~140 kg CO₂e avoided per unitid: laptops
Desktop ComputersPCs, iMacs, Workstations~210 kg CO₂e avoided per unitid: desktops
ServersEnterprise & Rack Servers~380 kg CO₂e avoided per unitid: servers
TabletsiPads & Android Tablets~60 kg CO₂e avoided per unitid: tablets
PhonesiPhones & Android phones~50 kg CO₂e avoided per unitid: phones
ComponentsRAM, CPUs, Storage~40 kg CO₂e avoided per unitid: components
PeripheralsMonitors, Keyboards, Mice~30 kg CO₂e avoided per unitid: peripherals

What we cannot

  • CRT monitors and televisions — Leaded glass — they need specialist treatment we are not licensed for.
  • Anything with a swollen, leaking or damaged battery — It is a fire risk in transit and couriers will not carry it.
  • White goods and general electrical items — We only handle computing equipment.
  • Devices that are physically broken beyond reuse — We refurbish for reuse. Your council recycles these free — we will point you to the right page.

CO₂ figures are estimates of manufacturing emissions avoided by reuse, not certified measurements. We are a social enterprise, not a registered charity, so equipment donations are not Gift Aid eligible. Please state both if you quote us.

Also useful

The council dataset (CC BY 4.0), and /llms.txt for a plain-text summary of everything above.

Something wrong, or something you need that is not here? Tell us — replies come from a person.