HP Recycles 265 Million Pounds of Electronics

In Hewlett Packard’s (HP) recently released Global Citizenship Report, the electronics giant announced their recycling of 265 million pounds of electronics in 2008, a 6 percent increase from 2007. The increase represents a trend in the electronics industry, following increased awareness and legislation pertaining to electronic waste.

HP, along with Dell, IBM, Intechra and Redemtech were the first recipients of IDC's G.R.A.D.E. certification. Photo: Idc.com

HP was also able to recover 3.5 million hardware units for reuse, representing 75 million pounds of electronics for remarket to consumers. Computer hardware is collected by HP through trade-in, return for cash programs, leasing returns, donation (through charities) and recycling. In turn, HP can remarket the hardware to customers, recycle the materials for use in other products, capture product energy or properly dispose of the product if applicable.

In 2008, HP became one of the first companies to be awarded the Green Recycling and Asset Disposal for the Enterprise (G.R.A.D.E) certification by the research organization IDC. To achieve certification, electronic companies scored more than 75 percent on an IT Asset Disposal (ITAD) system.

To date, HP has recovered more than 1.7 billion pounds of electronics and aims to recycle more than 2 billion pounds and reuse 450 million pounds by the end of 2010. HP currently offers collection and recycling services in 53 countries or territories worldwide.

A new GreenFactor study named HP one of the top green technology brands, recognized for their energy efficient products, use of sustainable materials and recycling programs. Though recognized in the industry for their sustainability efforts, HP has received criticism for their shortcomings in phasing out PVC and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) in their products.