Dell gets thumbs-up for bamboo packaging

By | May 11, 2010, 8:15am PDT

Summary: Looks like the days of styrofoam in computer boxes are numbered

Tech giant Dell, which has been using bamboo packaging for some of its netbooks since November 2009, has received a certification for that packaging from the American Society of Testing and Materials. The reason this is important is because the certification verifies that the materials are biodegradable and compostable, which means that they can be disposed of rather easily.

Dell plans to extend its use of sustainable and renewable packaging significantly by 2012. An update on its strategy can be found over on my Business Brains blog (part of the SmartPlanet blog network).

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Heather Clancy is an award-winning business journalist with a passion for green technology and corporate sustainability issues.

Disclosure

Heather Clancy

Writing publicly about what the high-tech industry is actually doing to help itself and the world get greener or more sustainable is one way I figure I can contribute more meaningfully to said effort. I am also a big OMG-kind-of-fan of smart leadership, which is why the goodly folks who publish this blog let me go on about this topic and why I am always on the hunt for forward-looking business management ideas.

My daily writing is focused on looking for topics for my blogs, GreenTech Pastures and Business Brains. I also write often about emerging technology trends such as mobile computing, unified communications and cloud computing. Occasionally, I will pop up at an industry conference in some sort of speaking capacity. In cases where a speaking engagement involves a sponsor that may be covered in this blog, that fact will be disclosed in coverage as appropriate.

My corporate writing work usually consists of crafting research white papers about some aspect of technology. In the event that my commentary (in written, audio or video form) mentions a company for which I have provided consulting advice, I will disclose that fact. However, there is no connection between these projects and the topics that I am covering in my blog.

Biography

Heather Clancy

Heather Clancy is an award-winning business journalist with a passion for green technology and corporate sustainability issues. Her articles have appeared in Entrepreneur, Fortune Small Business, The International Herald Tribune and The New York Times. In a past corporate life, Heather was editor of Computer Reseller News, where she was a featured speaker about everything from software as a service to IT security to mobile computing.

Heather started her journalism life as a business writer with United Press International in New York. She holds a B.A. in English literature from McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, and has a thing for Lewis Carroll.

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RE: Dell gets thumbs-up for bamboo packaging
ITSamurai 13th May 2010
@mKind
Doubtful, bamboo grows frighteningly fast, and is actually rather hard to kill. When you look at a clump of bamboo realize it's interconnected under the ground and the shoots comming up in many cases are all the same plant. It works alot like mint, if you're familiar.
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later on. happy
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No, "repandaiation", like repatriation! nt
wizard57m@... 11th May 2010
@mKind nt
0 Votes
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@mKind
Doubtful, bamboo grows frighteningly fast, and is actually rather hard to kill. When you look at a clump of bamboo realize it's interconnected under the ground and the shoots comming up in many cases are all the same plant. It works alot like mint, if you're familiar.
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RE: Dell gets thumbs-up for bamboo packaging
Greenconomist 11th May 2010
I actually think this move by Dell highlights a couple of issues that are pressing for other hardware manufacturers and broader for U.S. customers. Did some research on this:

http://greenconomist.com/2010/05/11/news-analysis/dells-bamboo-packaging-highlights-green-sourcing-and-composting-trends.htm

1. It's clear that the future push for environmentally-conscious manufacturers will be greening their supply chains, much as Dell has done.

2. Dell still needs to make sure their packaging is certified recyclable. There just isn't enough of a composting infrastructure in place to take advantage of compostable packaging just yet.

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