ASUS Announces Ambitious New Global E-waste Recycling Target

ASUS sets goal to recycle 20% of its global e-waste, and hosts events to celebrate World Environment Day 2017

TAIPEI, Taiwan (June 5, 2017) — To mark World Environment Day 2017, ASUS today announced an ambitious new target of recycling 20 percent of its global electronic waste (e-waste) — a target that it intends to reach by the year 2025. Every day, harmful e-waste is put into landfills around the globe, and the World Health Organization recently warned that the improper disposal of e-waste can cause severe health and environmental damage. Currently, ASUS has joint ventures in 14 countries, which entails 70 percent of its global business, with qualified local recyclers to help recycle e-waste. Last year, ASUS recycled close to 11 million kilograms of e-waste, representing a 12.2 percent recovery ratio of total products sold. Along with improving sustainability, e-waste recycling also creates new market opportunities by adding value to recycled materials.

Local recycling events to celebrate World Environment Day

World Environment Day, founded by the United Nations in 1972, is celebrated on June 5 and addresses a different environmental issue each year. This year’s theme is Connecting People to Nature. Today, ASUS joins the festivities by hosting a global series of recycling events to raise environmental awareness, with themed events held in many countries, including the Netherlands, the United States, Taiwan and India. This year’s events will focus on two goals. The first is to set up e-waste collection stations in collaboration with local ASUS sales offices, schools and recycling organizations, in order to share the benefits of recycling e-waste properly with local communities. The second goal is to collect a combined total of more than 100,000 kilograms of e-waste before the end of July.

ASUS starts a new recycling program in India

In May this year ASUS established a new recycling operation in India. Throughout the country, 40 different recycling collection stations were opened, offering recycling services such as free on-site pickup and a recycling hotline. As part of its commitment to Individual Producer Responsibility (IPR) — a concept that places the responsibility for recycling products on the manufacturer, once they have been collected — ASUS has ensured that all its recycling programs in key markets such as Europe, North America, China, Taiwan and Japan have been approved by local governments or met international standards for handling and recycling e-waste, for example the EPA’s Responsible Recycling (R2) Certification Program or the Basel Action Network e-Stewards Initiative. The ASUS recycling programs also offer services such as free collection and waste disposal. To ensure that local recycling programs are run responsibly and ethically, ASUS will conduct annual audits, involving three independent audit agencies. These agencies will confirm that proper recycling methods are used throughout the entire recycling process, and that the programs adhere to local laws and comply with ASUS corporate sustainability standards.

ASUS Corporate Social Responsibility

ASUS invites people everywhere to join its worldwide recycling events. For more information about ASUS initiatives, please visit the Green ASUS website.