REVIEW: Dell’s Computer Recycling Program

Apple isn’t the only computer company with a recycling program; Dell rolled out its own program last year. The specifics of the program state that Dell will receive any Dell-branded product, no purchase required, and recycle it for free. You can also send them your old printers, ink cartridges, and toner cartridges for free recycling; however, you’d have to purchase a replacement item in order to qualify for free printer or cartridge recycling. That’s a bummer, but hey, at least they offer recycling at all.

Dell offers a list of products that are currently recyclable by the company, as well as instructions on how to package the product you’re recycling for shipment. They also give you a pre-paid shipping bill through DHL, who will pick the item up at your house, if you ask them nicely.

The program page is difficult to find from Dell’s home page, which is a weakness in its effectiveness. Do they really want people to send them their computers, or is the program just lip service to the “green movement”? Once I found the right page, I tried my best to read Dell’s Environmental Responsibility statement, but I admit I got bored less than a paragraph into it. The problem is that it reads like a PowerPoint presentation. I’m serious. It even has the required diagrams (like an accomplishment timeline, how adorably sixth-grade of them) and a PDF about their global policy, which I honestly couldn’t be bothered to open. The thing that bothered me most about reading this page was their Sustainability Life Cycle diagram, which I’ve conveniently included below:

Click here to see a larger version on Dell’s server.

What bothers me about this image (besides the fact that it’s boring) is that the inner circle, which looks as if its point is to enlarge the important part, only serves to obscure the text behind it. Even if I wanted to (which I don’t), I couldn’t read what this graph is all about. All is serves to do is show off the little icons that some designer had the pleasure of coming up with. The arrows are great, Dell, but how about some accompanying information? It feels too much like filler to me, which sucks.

Still, the recycling program is kinda cool, if you’re into Dell. Do any of you readers use a Dell computer? How about a Dell printer? I’ll admit I wasn’t even aware that Dell makes printers, let alone recycles them… Haven’t they heard of HP? Or, my personal favorite, Epson? What about Canon? I guess they’ve just got to throw their hat in the ring. I don’t know much about Dell at all, it seems. But I do know that they have a recycling program, and now so do you.