Dell will begin providing recycling services to business customers in mainland China and Hong Kong immediately, the company's CEO Kevin Rollins announced.

"We want to make recycling easy for our customers in China, and Dell is committed to recycling what we make and sell," Rollins said, "We encourage every manufacturer in our industry to join us in providing responsible recycling in China."

The company will provide consumers no-charge recycling by the end of November.

Dell's Asset Recovery Service assists business and institutional customers by removing and refurbishing or recycling old hardware consistent with environmental guidelines. Customers can take advantage of two programs. Dell's Value Recovery Services will arrange the packing, shipping and testing of surplus computer equipment for an organization. If it meets functional and cosmetic requirements, it is resold with value from the sale returned to the customer. Dell's Recycling Services will dispose of equipment that has no resale value by collecting and delivering it to Dell's recycling partners. The equipment is responsibly recycled according to Dell standards.

By November, Dell will offer a recycling service designed for consumers that provides recycling of used Dell-branded computers and peripheral equipment at no-charge. The service is not tied to a replacement purchase. Launching consumer recycling in China is an important part of Dell's global recycling commitment announced in June.

"Environmental stewardship is an increasingly important issue for the IT industry," Rollins added, "Each year, millions of computers need to be recycled or recovered. As an industry leader, Dell is committed to minimizing our impact on the environment at every stage of the product lifecycle, from design through retirement."

Dell recently issued a new chemical-use policy outlining the company's precautionary approach to identify and eliminate substances of concern from its products. The policy includes a commitment to phase out the use of all brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in products by 2009. To demonstrate this commitment, Dell has established an industry working group through the International Electronic Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) to identify safe, reliable substitutes for the use of tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBP-A) in printed circuit boards.

Dell says it is currently meeting the requirements of the European Union's Restriction on the use of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive for products sold in the EU and will implement these requirements on its global product lines.

In a related move, Dell announced a product energy-efficiency strategy last month with a goal to provide the most energy-efficient products in the IT industry.

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