Dell launches computer recycling service

With just under a year before the EU Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) legislation becomes law, Dell has launched a UK recycling programme for business customers.

WEEE is designed to deal with the growing problem of electronic and electrical waste in the UK.

Environment Agency figures show that currently at least one million tonnes of electrical and electronic waste from domestic and commercial sources are discarded in the UK every year.

With this volume of refuse expected to grow by between four and eight per cent a year, Dell said it decided not to wait for the finer points of WEEE to be hammered out before implementing its own recycling programme.

The hardware manufacturer cited research it has commissioned which indicated that 92 per cent of those responsible for disposing of business computer hardware in the UK do not realise that WEEE will become operational in 2005.

A quarter of businesses that do not recycle said they had no idea of where to go if they wanted to comply with the directive, the company added.

"We were surprised when our research showed that British business knows so little [about WEEE]. We expected it with consumers but not from companies," Pat Nathan, Dell's global sustainable business director, told vnunet.com.

"We didn't want to wait [for the legislation]. We want to be doing things now."

Dell will offer businesses what it has called Asset Recovery Services (ARS).

The company said it estimates that nearly a third of British businesses throw away old IT hardware, and that it wants to educate them about complying with WEEE, explaining how they can profit from the directive by selling on serviceable used kit.

"We pack, test, and our partners sell on the equipment, and the company gets a percentage of the price back. If equipment is to be recycled we also produce the necessary certification and documentation a company needs to show they have complied with WEEE," said Nathan.

ARS covers all computer products, including desktops, notebooks, servers, storage, networking, monitors, printers, projectors and peripherals.

"No computer should go to waste. That is the key message," added Nathan.