Dell plans to quit recycling contract
Operation employing prisoners was accused of mishandling waste
07/03/2003

By CRAYTON HARRISON / The Dallas Morning News
Dell Computer Corp. announced Thursday that it's dropping a recycling contractor that has met criticism for the work conditions of its employees, who are federal prisoners.
Dell will end its relationship in the next 30 days with UNICOR, a branch of the Federal Bureau of Prisons that employs prisoners for electronics recycling and other industries, said a person at Dell familiar with the situation.

UNICOR defended itself last week against accusations by an environmental group, the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, that it didn't appropriately dispose of electronic waste.

But the report was enough to persuade several Dell customers to pressure the computer maker, based in Round Rock, Texas, to switch to other contractors, said the person at Dell.

Advocacy groups such as the Texas Campaign for the Environment, which protested last year at Dell's shareholder meeting, also played a role.

"Our point of view was that there was nothing wrong with working with UNICOR, but yeah, we heard some stakeholder response," the person said.

Other recyclers, meanwhile, have reduced their prices to the point where they are competitive with UNICOR's low costs, making the transition to other contractors easier, the person said.

"One advantage to having UNICOR before was that it cut costs quite a bit," the person said. "It brought all the other vendor costs in line."

As a result, prices won't rise for consumers to recycle their old computers and other electronics. Dell sells recycling services through its Web site and breaks even on the service, executives have said.

Dell will shift its consumer recycling to two companies, Dallas-based Resource Concepts Inc. and Image Microsystems Inc. of Austin. Dell has worked with RCI before to recycle business products.

The computer maker also plans to announce other contractors soon, all of whom have met the company's requirements for disposal of waste and proper work conditions.

Dell won't suffer any financial penalties for withdrawing from its contract with UNICOR, said the person at Dell.

E-mail charrison@dallasnews.com