An environmental group led by UW-Madison students proved it really can make a difference. Four months after writing a letter to Dell Chair Michael Dell, two UW-Madison students participated in a teleconference call with Dell himself.
The call was aired publicly in the Memorial Union and Grainger Hall Monday afternoon.
The students, UW-Madison senior Claire Cragan and UW- Madison junior Rachel Ann Seltzer, are interns at the Madison-based Grassroots Recycling Network.
Last September, the interns wrote a letter to Dell asking him to address five points about the environmental impact of toxic components of Dell hardware.
\The letter was signed by representatives from 153 campus organizations across the country and published in Dell's home paper, The Austin Chronicle,"" said UW-Madison sophomore Julie Curti of Beyond Recycling.
Mr. Dell responded by holding this call to describe the steps Dell has taken to address the points, emphasizing his company has always been environmentally conscious.
The top point in the letter was the ""Take it Back"" initiative in which students suggested Dell recover all obsolete Dell hardware, free to consumers and with no government involvement. Dell said his company already does that with printers.
""When you buy a [Dell] printer, put the old one in a box, tape it up, put the label on, call [courier] Airborne, and we pick it up free,"" Dell said, adding his company even accepts competitors' printers. Dell is working on expanding the program to include computers, though he gave no timeframe.
Some Dell programs emphasize reuse over recycling. In Canada the company is piloting a program to pick up unwanted computers, give their owners tax deductions, and deliver the computers free to the poor or handicapped.
Dell addressed other points in the letter, saying Dell is phasing out its use of toxic components; ensuring no hazardous materials get recycled into new products; and recycling responsibly without overseas or prison labor.
Curti said her group targeted Dell as the market leader.
""Once they buy in, the other companies will follow,"" she said, adding Hewlitt Packard is already taking the same environmental steps as Dell.
Sophomore Lindsay Perlen of Beyond Recycling said the incremental cost these efforts would add to computers is acceptable.
""Consumers can already send their old stuff back to companies at their own expense. But if Dell does it themselves, their economies of scale make it cheaper,"" she said. ""Plus, they'll phase out toxic wastes faster to lower their own disposal costs.\
