Best Buy Sidebar: Recycling E-Waste
Best Buy Co. Inc. (BBY) says that its five-year-old Richfield, Minn., headquarters campus — home to 3,500 corporate employees — was designed as an ENERGY STAR® building, with high-efficiency lighting, heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems; bathroom fixtures optimized for efficient water usage; and carpeting made with recycled material laid in two-by-two-foot squares for easy replacement. The campus is the largest source of compost in the state of Minnesota, according to the company. And Best Buy says its new store prototype, which received LEED precertification from the U.S. Green Building Council, features skylights and low-volatile organic compound paint, coatings, adhesives, sealants and flooring.
But the company’s biggest sustainable effort may be the recycling partnerships it has entered into with customers. “E-waste is the fastest-growing waste stream in the world,” says Paula Prahl, Best Buy’s senior vice president of communications, public affairs and corporate responsibility. Noting that the company operates the largest consumer program in the U.S. for recycling unwanted electronics, she says kiosks in the front of each store accept ink cartridges, rechargeable batteries, cell phones, CDs, DVDs and gift cards. Not only will Best Buy remove an appliance or TV from a customer’s home free of charge when a new product is delivered, she says, but for $100 the company will remove up to two appliances or TVs for recycling even if a Best Buy purchase wasn’t involved.
