US consumers have been able to (for instance) pay $US2 to offset the carbon cost of manufacturing a notebook, or $US99 to cover the emissions created by that machine over three years, since that time, and the scheme has also been extended to Europe.

That option has not been available to Australian buyers, but Dell plans to have it in place by the end of the year, corporate communications spokesperson Paul McKeon said at the Influence Forum in the Hunter Valley today. The delay in rolling it out has been due to the complexities of selecting a local environmental charity to partner with.

In the US, the scheme is managed by The Conservation Fund and Carbonfund.org. Dell contemplated using the same organisations for Australia, but decided that local buyers would prefer the company to partner with an Australian charity, McKeon said.

Dell already operates a national takeback scheme for PCs, and is looking at other initiatives such as allowing companies to return the packaging PCs are delivered in for recycling. Last year, the company took back 300 tonnes of PCs for recycling in Australia.