I work with a few groups (USA) that, loosely speaking, "recycle" items. Their mission statements (charities) range from "simple recycling" (i.e., diverting materials from land fills/dumps/incinerators) to more exhaustive reuse-repurpose-recycle operations (i.e., find a new user for the item else find a new use for it before resorting to recycling it as scrap material). Most have "charitable" goals (though some have profit motives).
All tend to be sorely understaffed, relying heavily on volunteer labor to meet their mission goals. Volunteer labor tends to be sporadic and unreliable -- you can't effectively "advertise" for volunteers with specific skill sets (when you're opting not to pay them!)
The materials involved run the gamut from household/industrial electronics to medical equipment/supplies. The sizes of the donations varies from "truckloads" from corporate donors to onesie-twosies from private individuals. E.g., a donation may be hospital beds and gurnees and examination tables... or personal computers, monitors and printers... or large flat-screen TV's... or new/used clothing (unsorted/sorted by size)...
And, of course, timing of donations is virtually unpredictable. As is the availability of "staff" to process those items.
Storage space is at a premium -- if you can't process it NOW, it inevitably ends up in the tip (i.e., scrap)!
"Disposition" to client groups (e.g., other charities) may involve shipping to another country (costly). "Local" uses may be limited (partly due to inadequate "outreach" efforts -- letting people know what's available to them in the community)
Bottom line, these groups have to cherry pick what they can do on any given day and often lose/miss opportunities simply because they are operating beyond their instantaneous capacity
"Simple" mobility aids (walkers, manual wheelchairs, etc.) are relatively easy to handle; their quality can be assessed and they can often be collapsed to minimize the space they consume. If "too many" start to accumulate, you can indiscriminately load up a few dozen and send them off to another group (e.g., a charity in Central America).
OTOH, powerchairs, powered wheelchairs, scooters, etc. are often simply "recycled" (scrap value) owing to a lack of on-site skill to assess their fitness for reuse or make simple repairs. Batteries are inevitably dead ("This belonged to my Dad; he died 3 months ago and we're trying to clean out the house..."). Parts missing. State of wear can be dubious. There may be hidden faults in the mechanics/electronics/etc.
In the ideal case, these groups would like to be able to find END USERS who could benefit from having these items (i.e., "reuse") gratis or at greatly reduced cost (to help cover operating expenses at the charity in question).
The problems (that I see) with this are:
- - labor/skills to assess the state of the item
- - labor/skills/components to affect any necessary repairs
- - locating/identifying appropriate recipient/client
- - programming the chair to their needs/capabilities
- - education in use/maintenance
- - ongoing support (repairs)
- - liability
E.g., a chair with bad batteries, missing key, etc. poses some problems in assessing its general state, driveability, etc.
[I use an 80A 24VDC power supply w/ an assortment of, e.g., Anderson connectors as a large "battery eliminator" to do some simple screening of chairs worth salvaging soas to eliminate the need to keep a variety of battery case sizes on hand *just* for testing]
For a chair to see "reuse", the organization would have to purchase and install the requisite batteries -- passing those costs directly along to the end user. The organization is then "invested" in finding a buyer (as those battery purchases can strain their financial resources and compete with other services that the organization may be more effective in offering to their targeted client base).
Unlike a "store"/supplier, they can't afford the luxury of holding onto several chairs that may never find users. Or, the hefty markups to accommodate these "investments". Additionally, the makes/models that are "available" are unpredictable (one group has a permobil m300, boss 6 and pronto m51 presently "in limbo")
Offering the chairs on Craig's List, eBay, etc. means they have to be warehoused for some time until a buyer is found. Then, potentially crated and shipped. And, the other issues that arise in any such "long distance" sale (remember, labor is in short supply).
[One possibility might be to resell to "mobility providers" locally and let them sort out these issues. Can/do they resell "used" kit? Creating a "relationship" with such an entity could then simplify handling all donations of this type!]
Moving a bit from the "reuse" towards the "repurpose" approach, the chairs could be "parted out" and offered for sale much easier -- no need to fabricate large crates, no programming issues, etc. For some groups, this would be an acceptable compromise ("Better to find some use than to see it scrapped!")
The "recycle" approach, by far, involves the least effort -- heft the chair on the forklift and drop it into the dumpster (3 minutes of effort).
So... with that as a "backgrounder", can you shed any advice on how these groups might want to proceed? It's disheartening to see all this kit headed towards the tip. OTOH, the chairs/scooters that I (personally) have been able to rescue have consumed a fair bit of my time -- time that could have been spent providing other services to these groups (instead of effectively servicing one "client"/recipient).
I guess I don't know how these items are "normally" acquired. E.g., if "insurance" is buying them for people, then they have little incentive to find a second-hand unit through one of these charities. OTOH, if they are buying them out of personal funds, then a "used" chair could have considerable value (ignoring the training/programming/support issue).
In an ideal world, there'd be enough labor, money, storage space and time to restore all of these items to useful purpose. (In a TRULY ideal world, there'd be no need for any of them!)
but they get rode hard and put away wet almost every day. 
and keep me rollin. 
I'm willing to bet that someone, nearby, has this very same "problem" and has probably developed a similarly expedient (inefficient) solution.
These folks use one of necessity is: they're crips such as I am. 
the simplest thing like screws or bolts that most dealers or repair shops charge terrible prices for, and can often be bought anywhere such items are commonly sold, for a few cents. But charging some exorbitant price is what causes clever folks to do it themselves. People who cannot physically or have the skills to make such repairs seems to fit the definition of thievery. IN my opinion you are removing the parts, which people who affect their own repairs, from the open market. Your cohorts and yourself are not seeing that taking powered chairs away for a proposed good scheme, and then dumping them in the rubbish bin. 
I don't deny your good intentions, but we can all see that those good intentions may well lead to destruction, if not very, very carefully thought out. 
Let "them" make the actual choice with which 
