Recycling computers will get easier as Hewlett-Packard Co. recently leased 100,000 square feet of warehouse space in Roseville, Calif., to consolidate its hardware recycling units. Currently, the units are scattered at several locations in Roseville and Rocklin, Calif.
Dave Zorn, H-P worldwide hardware recycling manager in Rocklin, said the program has grown substantially since its inception in 1989. Currently, H-P takes back about 1 million pounds of product each month.
Its primary mission is to disassemble products, collecting used parts for refurbishing and resale. Another goal is to collect materials such as plastic, which is sold to recycled resin suppliers.
``Our objective is to get into 100 percent recycle/reuse for all of our products,'' Zorn said.
The Roseville operation handles take-backs from the United States, Canada and Latin America. A sister company in Grenoble, France, handles Europe.
Zorn said the program makes sense from both an environmental as well as a manufacturing point of view.
``The more we can reuse parts to service our products, our factories aren't tied up producing low-volume service parts,'' he said.
``We generate a lot of hardware, so it's only right that we should take it back.''