E-waste is a significant challenge not just in India but everywhere around the world. Its harmful impact on the environment is well known, and there’ve been numerous deliberations around the globe on how to tackle this problem. Recently electronics manufacturers have also awaken to the challenge and have started looking for their own ways to deal with the problem. First we saw Apple taking steps in the direction of recycling old iPhone components, and now well-known PC maker Dell has decided to do something in that direction. The company has decided to recycle the gold found in used motherboards and use it for making jewellery.
The announcement was done at CES 2018, and it’s in partnership with Hollywood actress Nikki Reed’s company ‘Bayou with Love’. Both companies have collectively made their first collection of jewellery from recycled gold, which was showcased at CES. The collection is called “Circular Collection”, and it’s a limited edition collection having caratlane gold earrings, rings and cuff links in purities of 14-carat and 18-carat. Now, to some extent this is a ploy to attract attention towards company’s recycling efforts, but it’s a very interesting and funny one so I (sort of) liked it. The company also announced another pilot program in which gold extracted from motherboards will be reused to make new motherboards.
During the announcement Dell revealed that at the moment only 12.5% e-waste is recycled and made into some other products, which is a challenging and concerning situation. As a result of this, people throw away gold and silver worth $60 million every year in the form of unwanted electronics in United States alone. In such a situation company believes that its Circular Collection jewellery program and pilot program of reusing the gold in new motherboards will go a long way in changing the sorry state of e-waste not just in the US but around the globe.
The people who want to donate their computers or motherboards for this program can leave them at one of the 2,000+ Goodwill Participating Locations around the country. Goodwill Participating Locations are properties of Goodwill Industries Inc., a non profit organization which runs the Donate movement to highlight the importance of recycling. Goodwill has already been collecting old computers and motherboards for Dell Reconnect program, and now its partner locations will also collect motherboards and computers for these new recycling initiatives of the company. Businesses can also donate for the program by taking part in Dell’s Asset Resale.
The electronics collected from these various sources will be broken down into separate materials by company’s environmental partner Wistron GreenTech. The process used to extract these materials separately is totally environment-friendly. From those separate materials the gold will be taken and then recycled into new motherboards or any other products.
So hopefully, your next gold earrings or cuff links may be made of gold extracted from a Dell motherboard. When someone asks from where you got them, you can say “Thanks to Dell!” And if they don’t believe it, show them this video.
