Spring Cleaning and Earth Day Mean Recycling Old Computers

Recycling old computers is a year round activity, but since spring has sprung in many parts of the world and people are cleaning out their closets, attics and garages, it’s a great time to discuss responsible recycling of computer equipment once it has reached the end of its life. Dell has been a leader in responsibly recycling old computers and diverting them from landfills. In fact new numbers are out, and last year and Dell recycled more than 68 million kilograms (150 million lbs.) of unwanted electronics in 2010. Dell is now about two-thirds of the way toward its goal of recycling 1 billion pounds of unwanted computer equipment by 2014.

One of our most successful recycling programs is called Dell Reconnect where, since 2004, we have been working with Goodwill industries in the U.S. and Canada, to make it easy for people to recycle unwanted computer equipment. People who use one of the 2,200 participating Goodwill locations can bring in any brand of computer and feel confident it will be recycled responsibly. In addition to laptops and desktops, people can drop off monitors, printers, scanners, and other computer accessories.  Thanks to Dell Reconnect and other take back initiatives, Dell recovered 43 million kilograms (95 million lbs.) of computer equipment in the America’s during fiscal year 2011.

Earth Day is Friday, and we hope that if you have an old computer that cannot be donated or put to good use, that you will drive to one of the participating Goodwill stores and help us keep unwanted computer equipment out of landfills. We’re proud of what we’re doing at Dell, but need to make more people aware of these opportunities and encourage other technology companies to do even more. At Dell, our team members are going to be quite active this week, participating in town halls, recycling their own items not useful to them anymore, and do things like bike to work in order to raise their engagement to save the planet. At our Round Rock headquarters Friday, our Dell Green team will hold a computer recycling event for the public.

Visit www.dell.com/recycle to view all your recycling options and to learn more about our programs.