[greenyes] E-Waste/Way to go Texas Campaign for the Environment

["Peter Anderson" <anderson@no.address>]

EXCERPT
    In January 2004, the combination of a market campaign by national 
coalition of environmental groups and pressure from liberal shareholder 
activists controlling hundreds of billions of dollars in assets - including 
the pension funds of religious orders, government workers and labor unions - 
forced Dell, one of the world's largest computer markers, to change its 
recycling policy.
    Environmentalists went door-to-door in Austin, Texas, where the company 
is headquartered, explaining why they wanted Dell to do more to keep old 
computers, which contain toxic chemicals, out of landfills. At a major 
electronics show where Michael Dell, the company's founder, was the keynote 
speaker, environmentalists showed up in black-and-white striped prison garb 
and passed out literature criticizing Dell's practice of using prison labor 
to crudely recycle computers.
    "Dell had this image of themselves as being a positive force for change 
and as being a clean company," said Robin Schneider of the Texas Campaign 
for the Environment, one of the groups leading the protests. "Being shown as 
a dirty industry ... that's not how they wanted to be seen."
    After nearly two years of protests, Dell announced that it would recycle 
a computer of any brand at no charge from customers who buy a new Dell 
computer.
"We thought that was great," Schneider said. "They are not required to do 
that by law ... We actually gave Michael Dell a certificate that said, 'Way 
to recycle, Michael!' And he talked about how they don't want to do this 
just in America, but that it should be a worldwide program."
    Key to the success of the campaign was the ability of environmentalists 
to show Dell that the company could make money by offering 
computer-recycling services to big corporate customers concerned about 
protecting the privacy of data on outdated machines.
    "I think the campaign was certainly successful in getting our 
attention," said Dell spokesman Bryant Hilton. "What got us really going was 
that we found we can meet our business needs, we can meet our customers' 
needs and we can do what the stakeholders are asking of us all at the same 
time."


 Scripps Howard News Service
Environmentalists bypass Washington to pressure corporations
By JOAN LOWY
Scripps Howard News Service
May 25, 2005
- After four and a half years of policy defeats at the hands of the Bush 
administration, some green groups are finding they can achieve greater 
success outside Washington by exerting pressure directly on corporations.
In recent years, environmental activists have successfully employed pressure 
tactics ranging from shareholder resolutions to humorous ad campaigns to 
street theater in an effort to force some of the world's largest 
corporations to change their behavior on issues like logging in old-growth 
forests, greenhouse gas emissions and computer recycling.
Currently, environmentalists are pressuring Ford Motor Co. to do something 
that they have been unable to persuade the federal government to order 
despite more than two decades of lobbying: significantly increase the fuel 
economy of cars and trucks.
Since the campaign began in 2003, protesters have targeted more than 100 
Ford dealerships around the country.
A local order of nuns met with the owner of a Ford dealership in Madison, 
Wis. Actor Woody Harrelson transported activists to a Santa Fe, N.M., Ford 
dealership in his bio-diesel bus. Organizers in Greeley, Colo., persuaded a 
car dealer to write Ford headquarters asking for increases in fuel 
efficiency.
Greenpeace activists recently forced the temporary shutdown of a Land Rover 
factory owned by Ford in the United Kingdom by chaining themselves to plant 
equipment.
"Our goal is to make it the largest corporate campaign on climate issues on 
the planet by expanding the geographic scope and types of groups involved," 
said Michael Brune, executive director of the Rainforest Action Network, one 
of the groups spearheading the "Jumpstart Ford" campaign.
Ford ranks last among the world's top six automakers in fleet-wide fuel 
efficiency. Environmentalists are demanding Ford's fleet of vehicles achieve 
an average fuel efficiency of 50 miles per gallon by 2010, which they say is 
possible using current technology.
"We are doing the best we can to move fuel economy forward - that's on 
everybody's mind," said Ford spokeswoman Chris Morrisroe. "If we could do 
that now, we would. It's not like we're looking to have bad fuel economy 
anywhere."
Called "market campaigns," the essential strategy is to publicly link one of 
a company's chief assets - its brand name - with harmful environmental 
practices.
"I think it's an enormously effective tactic, especially in a globalized 
world where multinational corporations play an increasingly powerful role," 
said Idelisse Malave, executive director of the Tides Foundation, which 
helps fund the Rainforest Action Network and other groups. "The focus of 
achieving change cannot just be on government."
In January 2004, the combination of a market campaign by national coalition 
of environmental groups and pressure from liberal shareholder activists 
controlling hundreds of billions of dollars in assets - including the 
pension funds of religious orders, government workers and labor unions - 
forced Dell, one of the world's largest computer markers, to change its 
recycling policy.
Environmentalists went door-to-door in Austin, Texas, where the company is 
headquartered, explaining why they wanted Dell to do more to keep old 
computers, which contain toxic chemicals, out of landfills. At a major 
electronics show where Michael Dell, the company's founder, was the keynote 
speaker, environmentalists showed up in black-and-white striped prison garb 
and passed out literature criticizing Dell's practice of using prison labor 
to crudely recycle computers.
"Dell had this image of themselves as being a positive force for change and 
as being a clean company," said Robin Schneider of the Texas Campaign for 
the Environment, one of the groups leading the protests. "Being shown as a 
dirty industry ... that's not how they wanted to be seen."
After nearly two years of protests, Dell announced that it would recycle a 
computer of any brand at no charge from customers who buy a new Dell 
computer.
"We thought that was great," Schneider said. "They are not required to do 
that by law ... We actually gave Michael Dell a certificate that said, 'Way 
to recycle, Michael!' And he talked about how they don't want to do this 
just in America, but that it should be a worldwide program."
Key to the success of the campaign was the ability of environmentalists to 
show Dell that the company could make money by offering computer-recycling 
services to big corporate customers concerned about protecting the privacy 
of data on outdated machines.
"I think the campaign was certainly successful in getting our attention," 
said Dell spokesman Bryant Hilton. "What got us really going was that we 
found we can meet our business needs, we can meet our customers' needs and 
we can do what the stakeholders are asking of us all at the same time."
"The desire of corporations to be accepted by the marketplace and to be 
personally liked has spawned an entire industry of activism and corporate 
capitulation that I've never seen before - it's unprecedented," said Eric 
Dezenhall, a Washington public-relations executive who defends corporate 
clients under attack by environmentalists and other interest groups.
"I've seen situations where companies are simply being harassed so badly 
that it pays to get out of a certain endeavor just to make the harassment 
stop," Dezenhall said.
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FOR FULL ARTICLE: 
http://www.knoxstudio.com/shns/story.cfm?pk=GREENCOMPANIES-05-25-05&cat=AN
_________________________
Peter Anderson, President
RECYCLEWORLDS CONSULTING
4513 Vernon Blvd. Suite 15
Madison, WI 53705-4964
Ph: (608) 231-1100
Fax: (608) 233-0011
Cell: (608) 698-1314
eMail: anderson@no.address
web: www.recycleworlds.net