According to CBC News, Michael Dell, chairman of Dell Inc., recently issued a challenge to the PC industry to adopt free recycling programs for customers and announced that his company would offer to plant a tree for every PC sold (…for an extra fee.)

In 2004, Dell began offering free recycling of any brand of computer or printer if consumers bought a new Dell system. The policy was revised in June so that consumers can recycle all Dell-branded printers, personal computers or other electronics gear for free, no purchase of new Dell gear required. For those not buying a new system or who don’t have Dell equipment, the Round Rock, Texas, company will take back used electronics for $10 US per box, as long as it weighs less than 23 kilograms.

And as mentioned on GreenTechnology, a customer donation of $2 for a notebook and $6 for a desktop will go toward the planting of trees “which will absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, offsetting the equivalent emissions resulting from the production of electricity used during the average three-year use of a computer.”