Dell turns to bamboo for sustainable packaging

By Stephen Withers
Wednesday, 18 November 2009 03:56

Strategy

Dell has adopted packaging made from bamboo for its Mini 10 netbooks. Bamboo is said to be a sustainable alternative to traditional packaging materials.

Dell's Inspiron Mini 10 and Mini 10v netbooks are being protected by cushioning made from bamboo rather than moulded paper or foam.

The outer boxes are made from 25 percent post-consumer materials.

The company claims bamboo is strong enough to protect electronic equipment and that the plant is ready for harvesting in as little as three years, making it highly renewable.

The raw material comes from a forest in China's Jiangxi Province, "far away from pandas' known habitats" according to Dell officials.

The forest follows Forest Stewardship Council principles and criteria, and Dell and its partners are working on certification for municipal recycling.

"The use of bamboo for electronics packaging is pretty new, but its viability as a great packaging material can't be ignored," said Oliver Campbell, Dell's senior manager of packaging worldwide.

"We're introducing it with mobile products, as it's proven a strong, sustainable and cost-effective solution for packaging those. We're actively working to integrate this and other innovative, agricultural materials into packaging for products across our portfolio," he added.