
More and more electronics companies are willing to take your old items back when you're doing using them or when you buy a replacement. But just how good are those take-back programs, and does the company you're buying a new printer from even have one?
The Electronics TakeBack Coalition has some of the answers you need with their new Electronics Company Recycling Report Card. The report card looks at companies that manufacture or sell TVs, computers, printers and gaming consoles.
Factors in grading included the scope of these companies' programs, how much they cost (or if they were free), transparency, recycling commitments, and how much the companies encouraged re-use. (Get a PDF of the full grading criteria
here.)
So how did they fare? Not a single company earned an A. Only one, Dell, received a B. Apple, Best Buy and Walmart all earned Cs.
Gaming consoles did not do well on the report. Both Microsoft and Nintendo got D- marks.
The worst? Printer makers. With too many devices designed for obsolescence, they all failed: Brother, Espon, Kodak, Lexmark and Canon all got flat Fs.
For the full report card, and details on each company,
click here.