Dell Trying to Make its Packaging Material Recyclable

Dell has managed to stand by its eco friendly goals. The corporate sustainability report of 2013 revealed that Dell was successful in making around 75 percent of its packaging materials of notebooks, and desktops either recyclable or compostable.

Going the green way

The company believes that by providing around 75 percent of recyclable material to its consumers, they in turn will find it easy to recycle the items. In the financial year 2013, the company reduced its packaging material to 5.3 million pounds. Last year, its packaging material was around 6 million pounds. Eco friendly components in its corrugated packaging and cushioning rose to around 42 percent this year.

In the later part of 2012, the company achieved its main aim of decreasing the packaging volume of laptops and desktops by around 12 percent. It also managed to attain another of its goal of raising the quantity of recycled packaging to 40 percent. It made use of renewable and innovative items like mushrooms and bamboo in making its cushioning. By changing stiff boxes with envelopes this year again, the company decreased the volume of packaging. This was done for the shipment of large quantity of items.

The report also claimed that around 8 million pounds of the content used by the company last year was made from recycled plastic. This was used for OptiPlex desktops and flat panel monitors. This recycled plastic content made use of items like CD cases and beverage bottles which were then used for backing the monitors and making housings for the desktops.

Efficient use of eco friendly promotional items

Dell generated close to 15,000 metric tons of non toxic waste in 2013 at its fulfillment and manufacturing facilities. Last year it generated around 17,000 metric tons of this waste while the amount of waste generated in 2011 by the company was a whooping 32,095 metric tons.

The reuse and recycling rate of Dell was low this year. It was around 96 percent at its fulfillment and manufacturing facilities. Last year this rate was around 98 percent while in 2011 the reuse and recycling rate was around 95 percent.

Dell has sourced close to 93 percent of its fiber for catalogs from the certified sources of Forest Stewardship Council this year as compared to 86 percent, and 77 percent in 2012 and 2011 respectively. By using eco friendly promotional items, Dell has proved that going green is something that all the companies should consider.

Source: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2013/07/15/dell-makes-75-of-packaging-material-compostable-recyclable/