Dell, along with other tech companies has been urged to use greater transparency in electronics recycling supply chains, according to the Basel Action Network (BAN), the global toxic trade watchdog organization.
Currently, about 12 percent of global 2-waste is recycled into other products, and only 20 percent of this waste is documented as being collected and recycled. Not a very good set of numbers. There is actually a huge economic potential attached to the waste, with Americans discarding around $60 million in gold and silver annually in electronic devices like phones and computers, reports Edie.
At CES 2018, visitors to the Dell booth were shown a slew of new products, including laptops, monitors, a line of portable SSD drives, and a variety of new software tools, along with a selection of 14- and 18-carat gold rings, earrings, and cufflinks.
Dell’s Circular Collection was developed in partnership with Twilight actress and activist Nikki Reed and eco-conscious jewellery brand Bayou with Love. The jewelry collection is designed by Nikki Reed and made in Los Angeles from gold responsibly extracted using technology from Dell’s U.S. recycling programs.
Dell told Tech Crunch the company has had so much success with their recycling process, they ended up with an excess amount of the material, so it decided to do something a bit more interesting with the gold rather than just stockpiling it. The circular jewelry collection is just one step toward a “closed-loop system” it hopes will help create around a million new motherboards within the next year.
Those interested in being able to say, “Dude, I got a Dell,” can preorder their jewelry now. Prices are ranging from $78 for a gold ring to $348 for a pair of gold cufflinks. Or, you can just buy a new Dell computer.
Basically, it is not the fact that Dell is able to make gold jewelry from recycled metals found in electronic waste, but they are trying to make a statement. Recycling can be advantageous and profitable if we would just embrace the whole concept.