It’s great to hear consumer products companies openly acknowledging their sustainability partners across the supply chain, in this case, with computer giant, Dell, announcing its partnership with SABIC for the use of reclaimed carbon fiber source materials in their Latitude and Alienware products.

Dell estimates that it will prevent around 820,000 pounds of carbon fiber from ending up in landfills.  The recycled fiber and scrap raw materials will be incorporated beginning in late 2015 initially in select Latitude and Alienware products, with plans to expand across these two product portfolios in 2016.  The recycled carbon fiber materials have approximately 11% smaller carbon footprint compared to using virgin carbon fiber.

According to Dell since it began its closed-loop recycled plastics supply chain in January 2014, it has recycled 4.2 million pounds of plastics into enclosures for new Dell products such as flat panel monitor models and Dell OptiPlex desktops worldwide.  Plans are on the way to scale across servers and other products next year.  Dell said its process was certified by UL Environment as the first closed-loop supply chain, and continues to be the only one in the industry (Apple what have been done lately?!?!).

Dell recently received a 2015 Catalyst Award for its closed-loop recycled plastics manufacturing from the Green Electronics Council.  The award recognizes innovative solutions and tangible environmental accomplishments throughout the lifecycle of electronic technologies.

Dell said it has incorporated more than 21 million pounds of recycled plastics from sources including water bottles and CD cases since 2013, and it continues to work towards a goal of using 50 million pounds of recycled materials by 2020.