Jack Debutts, strategic planning manager of retail returns for Dell Inc., says one of his company’s goals is to chart a path for end-of-life products that will avoid the worst-case scenarios.
Before speaking to attendees of the 2009 Reverse Logistics Association Conference & Expo, which was held in early February in Las Vegas, Debutts showed a 2008 clip from “60 Minutes” that followed a container-load of obsolete electronics from a recycling facility in Colorado to a the Chinese village of Guiyu, which has become notorious for handling electronic scrap unsafely and environmentally unsoundly.
Debutts noted that retailers, OEMs and others who possess end-of-life equipment have a number of disposal options other than irresponsible exporting, including refurbishing, reselling and harvesting resalable parts and components.
When it comes to recycling at the genuine end-of-life state, Debutts said it was a “complex” task to handle a stream with so many secondary commodities and materials.
However, based on the number of computers and TVs still in storage and a current computer and TV recycling rate in the United States of 18 percent, Debutts says Dell and other industry participants will have to work out the complexities.
If not pushed by regulations, they will almost certainly be pushed by a generation of young people entering the consumer market and work force who have green priorities. Debutts said one recent survey of college students found that 79 percent said they were more inclined to choose working for one company over another if it was more “green.”
Currently, Debutts said, Dell is among the manufacturers active in designing its computers for easier dismantling and recycling, such as by using a few common types of plastic.