Green With Envy

As if its cult-like following (including yours truly) needed another reason to visit Apple retail stores, the company is expanding its free computer recycling program.

Starting in June, anyone buying a Macintosh system through the online Apple store or an Apple retail store can get rid of their existing computer free of charge. (It'll pick up shipping if you need to send in the equipment.) Apple will take the equipment and recycle it domestically.

The company already has a drop-off location at its headquarters and it actually has had environmentally friendly manufacturing and packaging, and technology recycling programs in place for at least 10 years. Through those programs, Apple estimates that it has diverted more than 7,100 tons of equipment from landfills worldwide since 1996. More on Apple's environmental policies.

In case you didn't realize it, the good news is that Apple has been offering a similar recycling options for business and education customers for some time. While I don't know the details or whether it has any formal policies, it stands to reason that Apple VARs can get involved in this recycling effort in some way. So, as more and more states pile on regulations pertaining to high-tech equipment disposal, Apple's policies might provide another argument for solution providers consider whether to team up with the vendor under the new Intel era.

To be fair, Hewlett-Packard also has cranked up its own green meter with its product recycling service. The vendor said at the end of last year that it recycled 140 million pounds of hardware and HP print cartridges globally in its last fiscal year-- the equivalent weight of 280 jumbo airliners.

Speaking of Earth Day, here's one more plug for the Computer Reuse and Recycling Coalition's 100 Percent Day program, under which it is collecting out-of-commission systems for refurbishment and reuse at schools and non-profits.