Last month, I shared insights into Hewlett-Packard’s environmentally and socially responsible supply management strategies. A cornerstone of this initiative is HP’s recycling program. By the end of next year, HP will have recycled 1 billion pounds of electronic waste.

Not to be outdone, this month rival PC makers Dell and Apple both announced that they were expanding their efforts in this area by removing fees and shipping costs to encourage more consumers to recycle monitors, PCs, and other electronic products. HP itself plans to step up its recycling program with a series of summer collection drives to entice more consumers to recycle their unused electronic products. 

I applaud these efforts to reclaim and reuse raw materials in new products. All manufacturers should be considering programs for sustainable materials and energy. However, I suspect the real motivation behind these latest announcements has less to do with a desire to be green and more to do with some harsh economic realities. 

Quite simply, raw materials, such as copper and gold constitute a growing portion of costs for electronic product costs. Prices for these precious metals is skyrocketing. Supply constraints are also cropping up. Some facts:

• Aluminum, lead, silver, and platinum prices have all doubled in the past three years.
• Copper and zinc prices have tripled.
• Gold reached $730 an ounce, it’s highest price in 25 years.

 A recent meeting with a defense manufacturer drove this home when the Vice President of Supply Chain stated plainly, “Copper is killing us.”

Recycling electronic products can offset or mute the impact of these supply, which are an increasingly larger portion of new product costs. An article in the latest issue of Fast Company magazine, an executive at metals giant Alcoa stated, “North American landfills contain more aluminum than wwe can produce by mining ores.” The execs thinks the same is true of gold and copper, thanks to the large amount of electronic products that have been disposed.

The article — aptly titled “There’s Gold in Them Thar Smelly Hills” — claims that one ton of scrap from discarded PCs contains more gold than can be produced from 17 tons of gold ore — “and humans throw away 20 million tons of electronic waste a years.” Fifty million PCs are disposed of each year in the U.S. alone.

With stats like that, no wonder manufacturers are rushing to get ahold of your old electronic products. Still a non-believer? Consider this. HP reports that now gets 60% more of the precious metals it uses in its products from its recycling program than from mining. Considering the recent metals supply market issues, this is a strategy that is not only environmentally sound but is helping HP offset added costs and supply risks.

To be clear, I am not calling out PC makers on their financial motivations. I am pointing to this example to demonstrate the type of economic factors and innovative technologies and processes that will be the prime motivators for companies to adopt sustainable supply management strategies. I expect (and hope) to see more of it!