Dell Plans to Triple Product Recovery Volume by 2009; Fiscal 2006 Sustainability Report Details Corporate Responsibility Progress, Goals

Business Wire, April 5, 2006

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) today announced it plans to triple the amount of product recovered from customers by the end of 2009 and released its annual sustainability report outlining current progress and future goals for the company's corporate responsibility efforts. Other goals detailed in the report include the company's environmental design plans and commitments to workplace standards for the company's global supply chain.

Major goals outlined in the FY06 report include:

--Introduction of a new supplier audit tool to help ensure good workplace practices throughout the company's supply chain;

--Global compliance with the European Union's Restriction on the use of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive;

--Enhanced product energy efficiency through improvements in product design; and

--Tripling the recovery and recycling of retired computers by the end of 2009.

Dell's annual sustainability report for fiscal year 2006, which ended Feb. 3, outlines the company's progress on environmental and social measurements and was issued today in conjunction with the Coalition of Environmentally Responsible Economies (CERES) conference here.

Major achievements for the company's recently completed fiscal year include:

--Launch of the company's first high-volume, RoHS-compliant(a) desktop motherboards. Dell exceeded its goal of shipping three million of these motherboards per quarter by the fourth quarter of 2005.

--Recovery of 36.1 million kilograms (nearly 40,000 tons) of product for reuse or recycling from customers and company operations. More than half of this total came from customers, increasing Dell's recovery of product from customers by 72 percent over fiscal year 2005 volumes.

--Completion of Dell's Supplier Self Assessment Questionnaire by 90 percent of targeted suppliers, exceeding the goal of 50 percent of target group completing self assessment.

--Participation by nearly half of Dell's approximately 60,000 employees worldwide in Global Community Involvement Month benefiting communities in which Dell has a presence around the globe.

"Dell is committed to being an environmentally and socially responsible market leader and our public goals and annual reporting on global progress underscore this focus," said Tod Arbogast of Dell's sustainable business group. "We made significant progress against our goals last year and have identified areas in which we can extend that performance over the coming year."

"Dell's sustainability report is a significant and commendable step forward in reporting on the quality of management beyond the balance sheet. Often it is in the management of governance, environmental, and stakeholder relations and metrics that we get critical insights into the warp and woof of corporate governance. Dell clearly understands that its investors are seeking those important insights," said Dr. Julie Fox Gorte, vice president and chief social investment strategist for Calvert Group.

Design for Environment

Earlier this year, Dell issued a new chemical-use policy outlining the company's precautionary approach to help identify and eliminate substances of concern from its products. The policy includes a commitment to phase out the use of all brominated flame retardants in products. To demonstrate this commitment, Dell is currently chairing an industry working group through the International Electronic Manufacturing Initiative (iNEMI) to identify safe, reliable substitutes for the use of tetrabromobisphenol-A (TBBP-A) in printed circuit boards. In addition, Dell plans to expand its existing ban on the use of brominated flame retardants in desktop, notebook, and server plastic parts to include all Dell products and peripherals developed after June 1, 2006.

Dell also reaffirmed its commitment to meet the requirements of the RoHS directive on products sold worldwide and to meet this July's deadline of the directive for products sold in the European Union. Meanwhile, in 2005 Dell exceeded its goal of shipping 3 million RoHS-compliant(a), lead-free(b) desktop motherboards by more than 180 percent.

Dell will continue to enable power-management features on many desktop and notebook products, in an effort to increase energy-conservation options for customers. Dell began to offer its PowerEdge and PowerEdge SC servers featuring processors with Enhanced Intel(R) SpeedStep(R) (EIST) capability in certain configurations to help lower overall power consumption in 2005. Dell estimates that 7 percent of PowerEdge and PowerEdge SC servers shipped in 2006 were configured with EIST features enabled, providing customers with the potential to save an average of 25 percent in power consumption.

"We continue to meet goals on eliminating the use of substances of concern from our product designs and increasing energy efficiency of our products while maintaining our high standards of reliability and product safety," said Don Brown, senior manager of environmental affairs for Dell.

Asset Recovery Services (ARS)

Dell increased product recovered from customers for reuse or recycling, as measured by weight, by 72 percent compared to 2005 results. Dell has set a target to recover 125 million kilograms cumulatively by the end of 2009, nearly three times as much as Dell recovered this year.