Waste Not
Dell Announces Social, Environmental Achievements as Part of 'Powering the Possible'

Dell has announced key corporate responsibility achievements, such as collecting one billion pounds of electronic waste a year earlier than planned, with the release of its Fiscal Year 2013 (FY13) Corporate Responsibility Summary Report.

The report outlines Dell’s environmental progress and efforts to support communities globally to achieve its sustainability goals, which are based on its Powering the Possible platform, a commitment to put technology and expertise to work where it can do the most good for people and the planet.

The strategy focuses on four primary areas:

Environment

Dell says it recorded a year of strong environmental achievements in FY13, which ended February 1, 2013. In addition to meeting its long-term goal of collecting one billion pounds of e-waste, the company also met packaging reduction commitments. Dell also became one of the first to introduce EPEAT-registered printers, setting a high industry standard for sustainability.

To help reduce e-waste, Dell established Dell Reconnect, a partnership between Dell and Goodwill Industries International, which takes used computer equipment of any brand, working or not, and puts it back to good use or recycles it responsibly for free.

According to the report, Dell recycled more than 170 million pounds of end-of-life computer equipment globally in FY13, taking the company past the one billion pound take-back goal set in 2008. The company says it also expanded the use of recycled-content plastics by using 7.8 million pounds of recycled-content plastics in its flat-panel monitors and OptiPlex desktop systems — a 6 percent increase over FY12.

Dell more than doubled the number of its global facilities purchasing 100 percent of their electricity needs from renewable sources, going from seven to 16 during FY13. Dell’s global renewable electricity purchases in FY13 totaled 22.6 percent of the company’s total energy consumption.

Communities

Working closely with community and nonprofit organizations, Dell says its FY13 strategic giving efforts were focused on going beyond funding to applying technology, expertise and volunteerism towards solving pressing social issues.

As part of Dell’s Children’s Cancer Care initiatives, Dell experts worked closely with partner Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) to deliver a high-performance computing solution for genomic research involving pediatric cancer, compressing the time it takes to analyze a patient’s molecular data from days to hours. Dell also delivered the TGen-Dell KIDS Cloud, which stores huge amounts of critical clinical and molecular patient information and enables professionals across the world to collaborate on targeted care strategies.

Dell team members volunteered more than 707,000 hours in their communities, greatly surpassing Dell’s company goal of 500,000 hours and making a three-fold increase in volunteerism since 2010. More than half of Dell’s global workforce, 56 percent, participated in community service activities with more than 15,000 charities in 60 countries.

People

In FY13, Dell expanded its Connected Workplace program now being offered in 37 locations across 26 countries. In addition to creating greater work-life balance, the program also avoided an estimated 13 million kWh of energy, 6,785 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions (as MTCO2e) and more than $14 million in annualized expenses.

As part of a $1 million, multi-year commitment announced in FY13, Dell helped create the Catalyst Research Center for Career Pathways, which tracks previously unstudied trends and demographics related to women’s careers in order to uncover why gender and achievement gaps exist and how they differ from country to country.

Supply chain

In FY13, Dell continuously worked to adhere to responsible business practices and require its suppliers to uphold equal social and environmental standards.

The company says it leveraged its role in the IDH Electronics Program to collaborate with participating suppliers, conducting assessments and defining next steps to improve worker-management communication and working conditions. Dell continued following the industry standard it helped establish in FY12, which required all Dell suppliers to follow the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC)-approved Conflict-Free Smelter Program audit protocols to keep their smelters conflict-free.

“At Dell, we truly strive to put our technology and expertise to work where it can do the most good — whether it’s influencing cancer research, aiding in the event of a natural disaster, or making it easier for our customers to reduce their environmental footprint,” said Trisa Thompson, vice president of Corporate Responsibility. “We are committed to giving others the power to do more by catalyzing the best of what we do and who we are to facilitate the progress we hope to see.”