By Varun Aggarwal, CRN Network, March 5, 2010, 1130 hrs
While the Indian Government is yet to put in place a dedicated set of rules to govern the management of electronic waste, Dell has taken a lead in encouraging environment-friendly PC recycling. The vendor has launched two new initiatives to encourage people: Give away your PC and Dell go green challenge.
Though Dell launched Give away your PC in India in 2006, it recently extended its free recycling services to any brand of PC as long as the customer uses the Rs 1,000 discount coupon to purchase any new Dell PC or notebook.
The vendor either refurbishes the collected computers or recycles them in environment-friendly manner. The refurbished computers are sold at discounted prices or given out to the needy as a part of the vendor’s CSR activities.
“It is always better to reuse and refurbish computers rather than recycle them as this increases the overall life of the product and requires much less energy,” added Mahesh Bhalla, Executive Director and General Manager, Consumer, Dell India.
The vendor has also launched the Dell go green challenge to raise awareness and community involvement in green initiatives. The supplementary forum will offer a platform for the green enthusiasts to gather in the virtual space and share ideas, thoughts and vision on the issue.
The challenge invites users to share photographs, videos and other innovative depictions of key issues, concerns or thoughts on community green technology. The contest will run for two months, during which the community will vote for their favorite entries. The winning entry will receive a Dell Inspiron 14-inch laptop. The first runner up will receive a Dell Mini, while the second would get the Inspiron Zino.
Dell, which became carbon neutral in 2008, sources 26 percent of all its power used globally from renewable sources like solar energy and wind energy. The vendor has also put in a lot of thrust on making all its components green. For example, most of Dell’s laptops today are LED-based, which consumes much less power and all of its servers are made from lead-free substance.
The vendor also uses bamboo-based packaging in some of it products as it is a highly renewable alternative to molded paper pulp, foams and corrugate often used in packaging. |