'Real World' Star Michael Ross -- I'm Saving the World ... with iPads

One man's trash is another man's treasure -- at least according to an ex-'Real World: Las Vegas' star, who's taking America's old, broken Apple products ... and turning them into charity gold.

It's pretty cool ... Michael Ross -- aka the straight-laced guy from 'RW' season 25 -- just started a non-profit called Greenest Genius that fixes up Macs, iPads, and iPods ... then donates a portion of the refurbished material back to impoverished children around the world.

Now here's the "genius" part -- the rest of the fixed-up products are then sold back to Americans to help finance the non-profit.

As for the above pics -- Ross tells us, they were snapped at an all-boys orphanage in El Progresso, Honduras recently ... where he donated one laptop, an iPad, and an iPod touch.

In case it wasn't already obvious ... Michael's company also helps the environment, preventing a bunch of otherwise hazardous electronics from filling American landfills -- hence the "Greenest" part of its name.