Apple has long been an advocate of product stewardship and believes that this concept extends to the disposal of electronic equipment at the end of its useful life. Product stewardship means that all parties who have a role in producing, selling or using a product also have a role in managing it at the end of its useful life.  Apple has developed the capability to take back its product at the end of its useful life and recycle a large percentage (over 85% by weight) of the material. This end-of-life program is currently available to customers of Apple Educational sales. 

Best Buy with the help of Panasonic, Toshiba and Compaq, has held approximately 10 collection events in the U.S., two of which were in California, which collected a total of 257,243 pounds of electronics.  These collections occur at Best Buy stores, and the retail store plans to host 15 collection events this year.

Dell offers its customers a variety of ways to manage end-of-life computer equipment from any manufacturer.  U.S. consumers can trade in, donate or auction old PCs through DellExchange. For business, educational and government customers, Dell Financial Services, L.P, offers PC Recycling and Asset Recovery services. In addition to the DellExchange program, Dell recently announced that it will begin offering a fee-based program return program, which will go into effect in September or October.  This program will accept computers from any manufacturer, not just Dell.

The Gateway Recycling Benefit is a rebate program that awards up to $50 when consumers purchase a new Gateway PC and recycle or donate their old PC. All that a consumer is required to do is provide Gateway a receipt from the recycling center when he is ready to buy a new one.  Please contact 1-800-GATEWAY, e-mail sales@gateway.com, or stop by a Gateway Country store with questions or to get a quote on a PC's trade-in value.

Hewlett Packard’s Roseville-based recycling operation began in 1987 to manage unwanted computer equipment generated from return and repair processes, as well internal asset obsolescence.  No specific laws required HP to begin the recycling program.  HP initiated this program to conserve resources and ensure that materials were managed in a safe and environmentally sound manner. Over the years, HP has committed significant resources to implementing a system to manage the material in the U.S. using best-available technologies and processes, and to comply with state and federal Hazardous Waste, Universal Waste, or Excluded Recyclable Material regulations (CCR 22 and CFR 40) on select items (circuits, CRTs, LCDs, mercury lamps, batteries, certain print cartridges, etc.).  This investment includes working with Micro Metallics Corp. to install a $4 million procession line in California. HP chose this approach even though there were less expensive, legally available options involving shipping unwanted computer equipment to countries lacking technology and processes to recycle computers in a safe and environmentally sound manner.  Now, HP makes the recycling program available to the public, and all U.S. recycling customers are served at facilities in California or Tennessee. Exports are limited to shredded metals going to a Canadian metal-smelter, where the shredded metal replaces mining ore. Customers may submit computer equipment of any make, as described at HP's website under "hardware."  Recycling fees, also provided at the website, cover shipping (HP arranges to have a carrier collect the products at the customer's location) and processing. HP does not profit from the venture, unless it is a factor to customers in new product sales.

IBM offers a unique program, Asset Disposition and Support Services (AD&SS), which makes the disposition of excess IT equipment simple and trouble free. AD&SS offers a complete, end-to-end suite of highly competitive solutions for business customers to safely and economically dispose of their IBM and non-IBM IT equipment. From resale of marketable assets to environmentally safe disposal of assets without market value, IBM Global Financing has the resources and expertise to serve customers anywhere in the United States. AD&SS addresses end users who are looking to dispose of customer owned IT equipment, or manufacturers or recyclers searching for an end-to-end solution for technology reclamation management. For more information, visit IBM's website. IBM also offers a PC Recycling Service to all consumers. This is an Internet-based mail-in program allowing consumers and businesses to recycle unwanted computers and equipment from any manufacturer. IBM offers this service for a fee of $29.99.  More information is available on IBM's website.

In 1995, Intel co-founded Students Recycling Used Technology (StRUT), a non-profit organization that partners schools with local businesses. Students involved in StRUT evaluate, repair and refurbish donated computers and then donate those computers to local schools and other non-profit organizations. Students gain valuable skills and schools get free computers. To date, more than 3000 students have refurbished 30,000 computers in Oregon, Washington, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Louisiana, Massachusetts and Texas.  In each of the past three years, Intel has held Computer Recycle Days in conjunction with Earth Day. Residents in the Phoenix, Portland, Boston and Colorado Springs metropolitan areas have been invited to drop off computers for reuse or recycle.  Intel has partnered with StRUT, non-profits, and local businesses and recyclers to hold these events. Over 6000 individuals have participated in these recycling events, diverting more than 400,000 lbs. of computer-related equipment from landfills.

Panasonic, Sharp and Sony teamed with the Connecticut Resources Recovery Authority and Envirocycle, an electronics recycler, to provide electronics recycling in Connecticut.  This recycling development project collected 593,011 lbs. of electronic products during 16 events. Panasonic, Sharp and Sony covered the cost of recycling their products through the CRRA collection events.  The companies likewise worked with the Asset Recovery Corp., another electronics recycler, to stage similar events in Minnesota, collecting 118,830 lbs. of electronics at 19 different events.

Sun Microsystems is engaged in a voluntary product take-back program that allows its customers to upgrade their Sun or third-party equipment to Sun's latest technologies and return their old equipment to Sun for disposition at no charge to the customer. Sun collects that used equipment and, based on demand, saves some systems and assemblies for re-manufacturing.  Old computer equipment from its own offices and operations are also recovered and recycled. Remanufactured products are sold at a reduced price to customers who wish to purchase used Sun equipment. Other components are refurbished and used for spares. The remaining material is sold to recyclers who reuse the components, plastics and other parts of the returned systems that Sun cannot utilize. That which cannot be recovered and recycled is disposed of in a safe and legal manner.

Toshiba America Consumer Products has sponsored product-recycling events at Best Buy stores, collecting a  drop-off charge for monitors ($10) and televisions ($15). These events were well attended by state and local environmental officials.  One event in Sacramento collected about 11,360 lbs. of products from 137 people. Waste Management handled recycling for this event with a 98% recovery rate. Another event, in Tampa, had a turnout of 120 people, bringing in a significant amount of product at 9740 lbs. (including a 700 lb. printer). Interestingly, no one objected to paying the CRT recycling fee. Envirocycle handled recycling for these events.