Dell uses prison labor for computer recycling programs

Posted Friday, 27 June 2003, 22:14 HST @259

IT: From the NYT via Google Groups, Dell knows how to slash costs :

The nation’s two largest personal computer makers, Dell and Hewlett-Packard, handle recycling of the waste from computer products in remarkably different ways, according to a report by environmentalists released today.

The report was prepared by the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, a group that also focuses on health issues, and the Computer Take Back Campaign. It commended Hewlett-Packard for using ‘state of the art’ practices in partnership with an expanding commercial recycling industry, while criticizing Dell for using low-cost prison labor in association with Unicor, an industrial prison system within the Justice Department.