PC Makers, Critics Join EBay Recycle Push
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Online auction company eBay Inc. on Thursday unveiled an initiative to join personal computer makers and their environmental critics in an effort to recycle more of the up to 400 million electronic products that are thrown out every year.
EBay plans to promote the program on its site at http://www.ebay.com/rethink, where consumers can go to resell, recycle or donate used electronics.
EBay Chief Executive Meg Whitman said that while information technology companies have created "some pretty innovative programs, I think we need to do more" to recycle electronic gear.
She was speaking at the Consumer Electronics Show, the biggest U.S. technology trade fair of the year, where manufacturers from around the world debut new products.
Together with Intel Corp., the world's top maker of the chips used to power personal computers, EBay has signed up top PC makers and computer distributors, along with leading industry environmental critics.
Ted Smith, leader of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition and a frequent critic of the computer industry's track record on recycling, said that eBay's willingness to act as a neutral broker was crucial to winning his group's support.
"They've got 120 million people coming to their site," Smith said. "That's the key number here."
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PC Makers, Critics Join EBay Recycle Push