Today Dell released an update on its headway in 2014-2015 against its 2020 Legacy of Good Plan, highlighting its first signs of progress in achieving 21 goals in the areas of environment, communities and employees.
“Dell has made great progress across its global business ecosystem in its efforts to use the technology we produce for good,” said Trisa Thompson, VP of Corporate Responsibility at Dell. “We’re committed to this ongoing work and share our results to both create and inspire positive change in business practices.”
Notable accomplishments in terms of its products and operations include:
- Dell now manages the largest technology recycling effort, with take-back programs in 78 countries, and a total of 1.42 billion pounds of used electronics collected. The company now is over 70 percent of the way to its 2 billion pound 2020 goal.
- By the end of FY15, Dell was shipping 16 displays and three desktop systems that contained closed-loop recycled plastics, contributing to the 21.9 million pounds of recycled plastics used in its products since FY14.
- At the end of FY15, two-thirds of all Dell packaging was recyclable or compostable. Additionally, 100 percent of tablet shipments and 92 percent of notebook shipments arrived in packaging that was 100 percent recyclable or compostable.
- Since 2009, the company has avoided 31 million pounds of packaging and saved $53 million by identifying alternative materials and opportunities for material reductions.
- Over the last three years Dell has reduced the energy intensity of its entire product portfolio by 30.1 percent, building towards its goal of 80 percent by 2020. This progress is partly due to greater investment in renewable energy: At the end of 2014, Dell’s Lodz, Poland, location became its first manufacturing facility to fully utilize renewable electricity. The Lodz facilities are one of 21 Dell sites that purchase 100 percent of their electricity needs from renewable sources.
The progress report also highlights a number of Dell’s community initiatives, including the company’s medical research funding and youth engagement:
- Dell continued to support advances in children’s cancer care in partnership with the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), reducing the total time needed for whole genome sequencing from approximately eight weeks to two days. It also expanded funding for the KIDS Cloud Initiative, providing doctors and researchers a cloud-based virtual collaborative portal to analyze and discuss data such as tumor characterizations and map those to drug databases for personalized treatment plans
- Dell’s new solar-powered Learning Labs in South Africa extended technology access to underserved communities. The company expanded collaboration with 65 Youth Learning partners across 14 countries, helping underserved young people to acquire skills needed to compete in today’s global workforce.
- In FY15, Dell’s strategic giving initiatives directly helped 657,000 youth who enrolled and participated in Dell-funded programs. Since FY14, Dell has helped 1.4 million youth directly and 6.8 million people indirectly, more than 40 percent toward its 2020 goal.
Finally, Dell reports strides towards it goal to engage 40 percent of its global workforce in employee resource groups by 2020. At the end of 2014, 18 percent of Dell team members were engaged in ERGs — an increase from 14 percent in 2013. Membership in the ERGs, which range from sustainability to women’s professional development to LGBT groups, reached more than 17,000 team members.
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Published Jun 19, 2015 7pm EDT / 4pm PDT / 12am BST / 1am CEST