April is Earth Month, and while I think about the earth 24/7, 365 days a year, I love a good reason to unite in appreciation of the Earth. As a company, we take action year-round in big and small ways driving incremental change across our business, products, partnerships and policies.
Pivots within our four walls
Not every step makes the headlines, but it’s the constant pivots and iterations over time that have great impact.
Earlier this year, we launched new global programs which build on more than 25 years of offering global recycling services to rethink, redesign, reuse and recycle – adapting to changing customer and consumer demands.
Last week, we introduced more sustainable materials into our premier commercial product line. Steps like scaling ocean-bound plastics incorporated into products and accessories and using bio-based rubber from castor beans increases use of renewable materials. New packaging is made from 100% recycled or renewable materials and is 100% recyclable.¹ This new packaging is rolling out across all new Latitude series laptops, Precision mobile workstations and XPS devices.
These are steps we can take, and then there are steps where we need collective action.
Where you come in
For Earth Month we’re focusing on one action everyone can take together – helping to reduce e-waste through recycling. We have talked a lot over the years about the growing e-waste challenge. To build awareness, drive education and increase recycling year-round, we’re launching a Global Recycling Drive for the Planet.
For some people, the biggest challenge is deciding what action to take – as individuals, communities and companies. We want to make it easy for you and we offer a wide range of recycling options:
For individuals:
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- Consumers can turn their eligible devices into credit toward their next purchase through Dell Trade In in the US. We accept any device, in any condition, and if it’s not eligible for Dell Trade In credit, we’ll recycle it for you, for free. Good deal for you, great deal for our planet.
- Globally, consumers can recycle their computer equipment through our mail-back program. Dell provides prepaid shipping and easy logistics for customers to mail back their used electronics and printer supplies – any brand, in any condition – to be responsibly recycled.
- In the US, we also offer Dell Reconnect, a program operated in partnership with Goodwill® Industries. This program provides free drop-off recycling for consumers to responsibly recycle any brand of used computer equipment, in any condition, at more than 2,000 participating Goodwill locations. Since 2004, the Dell Reconnect program has kept more than 580 million pounds of e-waste out of landfills.
- In February, we joined Google, Apple, Amazon and Microsoft to launch a year-long, city-wide collect-from-your-door electronics recycling pilot for consumers in Denver, Colorado. Denver residents can find out more about how to use this service here.
For communities:
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- Erase E-waste Sweepstakes is designed for US-based K-12 students, educators, district leaders and local governments. It’s meant to enable proper recycling of e-waste through a community e-waste collection event. Three years running, this event brings communities together to enable the circular economy and can lead to green careers as students begin to understand and experience different ways to recycle. The event also promotes STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) skills and leads to community and student engagement.
For business customers:
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- Dell’s Asset Recovery Services helps commercial customers resell, recycle or return to lease their excess hardware in a secure and environmentally conscious manner that complies with local regulatory guidelines. We will handle the pickup logistics of any brand of leased or owned hardware, sanitize used devices to help ensure data doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, resell or recycle the equipment responsibly and provide comprehensive reporting of the process.
We need you to join us. When we work together we can amplify our impact. Identify what can be fixed, what needs to go and then take action.
Together we are powerful enough to make a difference. Join us and make Earth Month your motivation to act for the planet.
To learn more and participate today, please visit Dell’s Recycling webpage.
¹ Excludes optional items added to order and included in box. Renewable materials in the form of FSC paper fibers. Paper packaging materials can be recycled via municipal recycling, where available. System bag is made from recycled plastic and can be recycled along with other thin plastics.
