Dell Closing in on Recycling Goal

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Electronics manufacturer Dell is two-thirds of the way toward its goal of recycling 1 billion pounds of e-waste by 2014, the company has announced.

The Texas-based computer giant says it diverted 150 million pounds of used electronics from landfills worldwide in the 2011 financial year. That is an increase of around 16 percent on 2010, Dell says.

The company has partnered with charity thrift store chain Goodwill on an initiative that lets U.S. and Canadian consumers bring in unwanted computers and accessories for recycling, regardless of manufacturer. This program alone contributed 95 million pounds of recycled electronics to Dell’s 2011 global total.

"As we strive to reach our 1 billion pound target by 2014, we're focused on educating people and creating awareness on the benefits of computer recycling and how Dell makes it easy to do so," said Mike Watson, director of the Dell recycling program. "Dell's responsible electronics recycling record in the industry is second to none."

In October 2010 the firm topped Newsweek’s “Green Rankings” of the 500 largest U.S. companies. Dell earned high marks for its strong environmental policies, including its free worldwide recycling program and for banning the export of e-waste to developing countries.

Dell claims it was the first major computer manufacturer to outlaw this practice.

The report also highlighted that Dell has designed PCs and laptops that consume 25 percent less energy than systems produced in 2008. Dell estimates that these efforts, along with others, have saved its customers more than $5 billion in energy costs over the past few years.

Dell was one of four electronics firms in the top five of the list, the three others being Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Intel. The fifth was pharmaceuticals firm Johnson & Johnson.

Retailer Target has also announced recycling progress this week. The company says it collected more than 1800 tons of shopping bags and 700 tons of bottles and cans in the first nine months of its in-store recycling program.

From the launch of its in-store recycling stations in April 2010, until the end of that year, Target says it also collected nearly two million pieces of small electronics, including MP3 players and cell phones.

The stations also allow customers to recycle ink cartridges.

Environment + Energy Leader