Will That Old Milk Jug Package Your Next Laptop?
Through a new plan to simplify the packaging for its desktops and laptops, Dell is looking to save 20 million pounds of packaging and $8 million over the next four years.
Dell plans to reduce packaging materials used in its computers by 10 percent worldwide and increase sustainable content in cushioning and corrugate by 40 percent. On top of that, 75 percent of all packaging materials should be recyclable in your normal curbside pickup by 2012.
“We’re challenging every technology company to join us in implementing a global green packaging strategy,”said Tod Arbogast, director of sustainable business at Dell. “In doing so, we will drive extraordinary environmental and cost savings for our businesses and customers while setting a new efficiency model for other industries to follow.”
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Some of the new packaging will be made of HDPE (high-density polyethylene), the same kind of plastic from which most milk jugs and laundry detergent bottles are made. In 2009, Dell will look to utilize over 33 million recycled milk jugs into its thermal-formed cushions. The new packaging plan will also help preserve more than 150,000 trees.
“Excessive packaging is among the most solvable challenges today. Changing the packaging paradigm presents an opportunity to increase business and brand value through sustainable innovation, resulting in positive environmental benefits,” said Adam Werbach, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi S, a global sustainability consulting agency that has worked closely with Dell to develop its packaging strategy.
The packaging plan comes in addition to Dell’s other green initiatives, such as powering its headquarter’s campus with 100 percent renewable energy. In 2007, the company exceeded its goal to reduce outbound packaging by 10 million pounds by nearly 10 percent.
