The OEM has been given the 2015 Catalyst Award for its efforts to close the manufacturing loop by using 100 percent post-consumer recycled plastic in some of its components.
Dell was presented with the award during the Emerging Green Conference, an international gathering of technology leaders to discuss the challenges of and strategies for sustainable electronics. Other finalists included HP, Toshiba and ReDeTec, a company which retails an extruder that grinds and melt plastic bottles into filament for 3D printing.
Its nomination explained how the company uses recycled content from electronic devices to create new products, with the OptiPlex 3030 PC being the first to contain “certified, closed-loop, recycled-content plastic”.
The conference and awards were organised by the Green Electronics Council, a non-profit group that exists to “inspire and catalyse environmental leadership” and also oversees the EPEAT rating system. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society and the publisher of a number of journals, also had a judging committee for the awards.
It said it was “honoured to support environmental leadership in the electronics industry by facilitating the rigorous, objective selection of this year’s Catalyst Award winner”.
Scott O’Connell, Director of Environmental Affairs at Dell, said: “Technology plays a key role in the shift to a more circular economy. Dell is committed to moving the IT industry toward more circular practice”.