Dell survey of electronic recyclers - Results and analysis

There is increasing market and regulatory pressure on responsible management of end-of-life electronics. In Europe, the EuP Directive (DIRECTIVE 2005/32/EC) requires manufacturers to perform assessment of the environmental impacts of their products throughout their lifecycle and the EU WEEE directive encourages manufacturers to design products which facilitate easy dismantling and recovery, in particular reuse and recycling. Certain states in US such as Washington are beginning to include product design-related information requirements of manufacturers in their recycling laws. Dell offers free recycling to consumers globally and has established robust asset management practices with our recycling partners. Beyond effective asset recovery offerings/services, customer and analyst feedback indicates that product design for reuse, repair/upgrade and recycling are important attributes of environmental leadership as it demonstrates a higher commitment to extended producer responsibility. There is also increasing interest in products with post-consumer recycled content materials. Dell works closely with its downstream partners and solicits their feedback in improving product design for reuse, repair/upgrade and recycling. This paper presents results of a recent downstream recycling partner survey and the attributes which are considered most relevant by recyclers in improving product design for environment.