Dell and HP Announce Computer Recycling Programs
After years of pressure by enviro groups and shareholders, the world’s two biggest PC manufacturers Tuesday announced dueling free computer recycling programs. From July 18 to Sept. 6, Hewlett-Packard will recycle, free of charge, any computer, monitor, digital camera, fax machine, cell phone, or other gadget dropped off at any Office Depot store — one gadget per person per day. The crafty marketing folks at Dell will make it even easier by sending a truck to your home to pick up your old machine — if you buy a new Dell PC. HP says their limited-time program will probably be extended in some form; Dell’s is open-ended. As Grist readers likely know, electronic devices are riddled with lead, arsenic, mercury, and other nasty chemicals that leach from landfills into groundwater or harm the overseas workers tasked with tearing widgets apart. So recycle ’em, would ya?
