Best Buy, Dell, HP and Samsung awarded for 2012 efforts in CEA's eCycling Leadership Initiative

Los Angeles, October 22, 2013 - Today, the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA)® honored Best Buy, Dell, HP, and Samsung with the inaugural eCycling Leadership Award for their ecycling efforts in 2012. The award, presented during a luncheon at CEA's Industry Forum in Los Angeles, recognizes consumer electronics (CE) companies that are recycling above and beyond any level mandated by government.

"We want to make recycling electronics as easy as buying electronics," said Gary Shapiro, president and CEO of CEA. "Each of these companies offers national-scale responsible recycling opportunities to consumers and exemplifies our industry's commitment to environmental stewardship."

In 2011, CEA announced the eCycling Leadership Initiative to increase the amount of recycled consumer electronics to one billion pounds annually by 2016, an effort known as the Billion Pound Challenge. So far, the CE industry is on track to meet this stretch goal by recycling 585 million pounds of products in 2012, due in large part to the companies honored today and their impressive efforts:

· During 2012, HP grew its electronics recycling from about 300 collection sites to roughly 3,700 nationwide by working with FedEx Office and Staples.

· Best Buy maintained more than 1,300 collection points for e-waste collection activities at all of its retail locations throughout the 50 states and Puerto Rico. Through various marketing means, Best Buy drove awareness around its collection and recycling program and increased collections by 20 percent to nearly 100 million pounds last year.

· Dell partnered with Goodwill Industries to offer Dell Reconnect, a free and convenient residential recycling program. Since its inception in 2004, the Dell Reconnect program has responsibly recycled more than 253 million pounds of electronic equipment at more than 2,000 Goodwill donation sites across the US.

· Samsung Recycling Direct program offered collection opportunities in all 50 states. Since 2009, Samsung Recycling Direct has responsibly recycled more than 275 million pounds from U.S. consumers.

Awardees received the eCycling Leadership Award which is made out of recycled cathode ray tube (CRT) glass by Nulife Glass Processing Ltd. Nulife Glass was the winner of the first "CRT Challenge," sponsored by CEA and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The first "CRT Challenge" was a technical competition to develop compelling economic and environmentally preferable solutions for recycling old CRT televisions and monitors. Nulife Glass proposed a solution that uses an extremely energy efficient, electrically heated furnace, uniquely designed to produce minimal emissions; and operates these furnaces in New York and the U.K.

The eCycling Leadership Initiative also seeks to foster consumer education. To find a local recycling center near you, please visit: GreenerGadgets.org.

CEA's Industry Forum is three days of networking, collaboration and programming designed to inform and connect leaders in the CE industry. This event offers a chance to network with more than 400 of the industry's top executives and decision makers from retail, manufacturing and service providers, while staying current on top technology trends.