Dell already is working on this
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News from: Dell Inc.

Dell Multipack Initiative to Simplify Deployments With Delivery of Multiple Servers in a Single Package

(CSRwire) ROUND ROCK, Texas ROUND ROCK, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 8, 2007--A new server packaging option called Multipack introduced today by Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) can save customers time and simplify server installations by eliminating up to half of the packaging materials and waste resulting during a typical customer installation of IT
equipment.(1)

The company estimates server deployment times can be greatly reduced due to reduced packaging material, helping improve on-site logistics so customers can get their servers up and running faster. The estimated environmental impact could deliver the potential savings of paper and cardboard equivalent to about 52,000 trees per year once the program is available worldwide.(1)

"Multipack is a win for our customers and a win for the environment," said Jay Parker, director of PowerEdge(TM) servers, Dell Product Group. "It continues our commitment to IT simplification by eliminating packaging waste at our customer sites resulting from installation of new products, reducing complexity for our customers while protecting the environment."

Multipack is now available as a packaging option, at no additional cost, for U.S. customers ordering more than one of Dell's PowerEdge 1950, PowerEdge 860, PowerEdge SC1435 or PowerEdge 1955 servers. Through the program, which will be made available worldwide, up to four 1U rack height servers or 10 blade servers can be delivered in a single box. In addition to reducing cardboard packaging, when only a single set of product manuals and CDs is included in each box, collateral materials can be reduced by up to 75 percent, further reducing paper use and material waste. Estimated annual savings(1) are up to:

-- 2,000 tons of cardboard

-- 1,000 tons of wood pallets

-- 300 tons of paper

-- 80 tons of polyethylene foam

-- 40 tons of plastic

"Whether you are integrating a few units or clustering hundreds to thousands of systems, when you receive each component in individually packed boxes, the amount of total accumulated waste in boxes, packaging and documentation can be significant," said Dr. Tommy Minyard, assistant director for the Texas Advanced Computing Center at the University of Texas at Austin. "We applaud Dell for being one of the first vendors to recognize and answer to its eco- responsibility as well as really focusing on helping customers by reducing the sheer volume of packaging waste by orders of magnitude."

Dell plans to make Multipack available across additional product lines so that customers ordering delivery of multiple products at one time can take advantage of this highly efficient and environmentally responsible delivery option.

In addition to efforts to reduce packaging volumes, Dell's commitment to forest stewardship includes worldwide use of recycled-content paper in catalogs, product packaging and office use. The company recently announced it had exceeded its five-year goal to use 50 percent recycled content by 2009. Dell's marketing publications now use an average of 50 percent recycled content paper -- and many publications use up to 90 percent.

Dell also recently launched www.dell.com/earth, a comprehensive online resource that provides in-depth information about its environmental programs and policies.

About Dell

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell is a leading global systems and services company and No. 34 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit www.dell.com, or to communicate directly with Dell via a variety of online channels, go to www.dell.com/conversations. To get Dell news direct, visit www.dell.com/RSS.
> Environmental impact estimates were made using Environmental Defense Paper Calculator. For more information please visit www.papercalculator.org. and PowerEdge are trademarks of Dell Inc.

Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.

Copyright Business Wire 2007

Consumers sending boxes back to Dell? How much more fuel would re-shipping boxes consume? Probably better to just add your cardboard boxes to your own recycle pile for pickup.

nothing really, while you were in town drop it of at your Ups store

I was going to suggest this!

UPS can not fling boxes into a wormhole directly to the Dell warehouses. They still have to load boxes on trucks, planes, etc to get back to Dell.

Exactly, but stuff is sent back everyday to dell

Sounds a bit un-environmental for an environmental suggestion...there would be a fair amount of inefficiency in using more fuel to ship all those boxes around, I'm not entirely sure there would be an energy savings, and landfill *space* is not really that much of an environmental issue, it's really much more all the nasty things that go in the landfill. Did I know that 1 ton of cardboard takes up 9 cubic meters? No, I'd have thought it would be more.

That said, I do like the idea of seing all those Dell boxes recycled...but there's got to be a more efficient way to have that done than shipping them all individually back across the country to Dell headquarters.

about the nasty things, is plastic nasty? It takes thousands of years for plastic to disenigrate in a landfield. Besides have you read up on the fuel efficient ups trucks?

How about just forming partnerships with local recycling companies so that the local company can come and pick the packaging up to be recycled

You could require that the computer buyers eat the boxes. Of course, it can't be done all in one sitting. It has to be eaten in small portions, and it will take some time to consume a whole box, but with a little salad dressing it should be possible. And people need to eat more fiber.

There is a much easier idea than this; as part of Dell's delivery service, you should unpack computers, and then take the packaging away., including the polystyrene.

turbot, that is a great idea.
they only issue would be for leased computers where they normally require you to keep the packaging so you can return the computer in it at the end of the lease.

Basically you'd need to "reuse" the cardboard box, instead of "recycle" it, in order for it to be efficient.

How about ecofriendly corrugated cardboard?