Dell processed 3.4 million pounds of recycled plastic from old electronics

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The latest Legacy of Good sustainability report released by Dell indicates that the company has made significant progress towards achieving its 2020 sustainability goals. A total of 36.2 million pounds of recycled plastic has been used since the beginning of FY14, thus making 72% progress towards its 2020 goal. The report notes that the company is way ahead of achieving its earlier set goal of using 50 million pounds of recycled plastic by 2020.

In FY16, Dell used more than 14.1 million pounds of recycled plastics in their products; 3.4 million pounds came from closed-loop efforts. In addition, the company used 170,000 pounds of recycled carbon fiber from manufacturing waste, which was used to make laptops. The company’s closed-loop initiative has processed 3.4 million pounds of recycled plastics from old electronics during the year ended Jan 31st, 2016. Also, Dell recycled 10.7 million pounds of plastic from sources such as water bottles and CD cases, which In turn was used in manufacturing desktops and displays. The company, in partnership with SABIC, had recently developed a new recycling method to make use of the thin material in carbon fiber-reinforced plastic for enclosure parts.

According to studies, Dell’s closed-loop recycled plastic has a 44 percent lower environmental footprint compared to virgin ABS plastic. Dell’s efforts to boost recycled content in their products won several prestigious accolades during the year which includes Green Electronics Council’s 2015 Catalyst Award, Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council’s 2015 Outstanding Case Study Award, Champion Award from the US EPA’s Sustainable Materials Management Electronics Challenge and CES Innovation Award.

As of end-FY16, almost 72% of the company’s shipments were packaged entirely in sustainable materials. The company has made significant progress when matched with the rate of 66% reported in FY15. Overall, 93 percent of Dell packaging by weight is recyclable or compostable.

Dell recovered 168 million pounds of used electronics in FY16. A total of 1.6 billion pounds of used electronics have been recovered since FY08. This is equivalent to nearly 80% of the 2020 goal. Incidentally, Dell aims to recover 2 billion pounds of used electronics by 2020. The report states that the program faces several challenges including reduced equipment size and varying electronics recycling regulations across various states. Despite these challenges, the company noted that it is on track to meeting the target.

Dell reports that 416 of its products meet various Energy Star standards representing approximately 90 percent of eligible product lines such as desktops, notebooks, storage, displays and servers.

Dell's move to reduce packaging waste has been particularly successful and saved $65.9 million since 2009.

The Annual report states the company’s commitment to increasing the recovery from existing programs. The total takeback volume in the Americas region increased from 104.8 million pounds in FY15 to 115.3 million pounds in FY16. The total takeback volumes in the Asia Pacific-Japan region also increased marginally from 14.7 million pounds to 15.4 million pounds over the year. On the other hand, the total takeback volumes in the Europe, Middle East and African region declined from 53 million pounds in FY15 to 37.3 million pounds in FY16.