The problem of treating the waste of electronic and electrical products has already become among the most pressing international environmental protection issues. It is also a major environmental concern at Acer.
During our product design, we strive to reduce the environmental impact of the product at each stage of its life cycle by eco-design and aiming to design environmentally friendly, easily recycled products. Through both voluntary and legally required recycling programs, we provide consumers with compliant, convenient recycling channels and promote recycling and reuse of ICT products. Acer' products embody the concepts of individual producer responsibility (IPR) as we endeavor to reduce our environmental impact to societies, communities and pledge to work with stakeholders like governments, consumers and retailers to undertake responsibility for the recycling and management of e-waste.
The European Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive entered into force on 13th August 2005, and its recast Directive 2012/19/EU re-classified all EEE products into 6 category from 15th August 2018. Meanwhile, in order to optimize re-use and recovery through product design, the whole life cycle of the product should be taken into account per Directive 2009/125/EC.
The WEEE Directive requires producers to mark electrical and electronic equipment put on the market after August 13, 2005 with a ‘crossed-out wheeled bin’ symbol. This is for reminding consumers not to dispose of WEEE as unsorted municipal waste and to collect such WEEE separately. Please check local regulations for disposal of electronic products.
Acer adheres to the spirit of extending producer responsibility for product recycling, and cooperates with the EU WEEE Directive and national laws to join the recycling system or recycle waste products. In 2021, we recycled a total of 7,522 tons of electronic products in the Taiwan, Australia, Japan, and North America regions.
Recycling of waste IT products in Taiwan is handled through a publicly managed and operated system. Operators receive fees from the Resource Recycling Management Fund based on annual operation volumes and recycling clearance and disposal rates. The Recycling Fund Management Board under the Environmental Protection Administration, Executive Yuan, is in charge of determining recyclables, issuing treatment subsidies, auditing and verifying treatment volumes, and managing recyclers’ treatment and administrative operations. Taiwan offers a wide spectrum of waste IT product recycling channels, able to utilize clean-up teams, second-hand goods operators, resource recycling organizations, and recycling locations established at IT product retail sales sites. Acer coordinates efforts with Taiwan' recycling system by not only making annual payments to the Resource Recycling Management Fund, but also participating in public hearings on recycling, clearance and treatment fee rates to better understand Resource Recycling Management Fund operations and provide suggestions on recycling, clearance and treatment fee rate adjustments. For information about resource recycling in Taiwan, please refer to the EPA' Recycling Fund Management Board website:
• Executive Yuan' Environmental Protection Administration Fund Management Resource Recycling website
• Toll free resource recycling hotline: +886-(0)800-085717
In Taiwan, Acer has long participated in the recycling program of the Environmental Protection Administration of the Executive Yuan. According to information from the Environmental Protection Statistics Website in 2020, the total recycling volume of desktop computers (including servers and workstations) was approximately 9,343 metric tons, while 506 metric tons of notebook computer products were recycled throughout Taiwan.
Acer’s desktop product category accounted for 1,482 metric tons of recycling, while our notebook category accounted for 93.13 metric tons, for a total of 1,575 metric tons. Acer reached 75% recycling in the desktop product category and 32% in the notebook category, with total recycling at 69%.
In Australia, electronic waste is managed by the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme (NTCRS), a national scheme run by the Australian federal government, which handles the recycling of televisions, computers, printers, computer parts, and peripherals. The main goals of the NTCRS are to reduce waste that ends up in landfills, increase recycling rates, and provide Australian consumers and small businesses with convenient channels for recycling. Acer recycles waste electronic products by partnering with NTCRS-approved Ecycle Solutions recyclers. For information on Acer product recycling in Australia, please refer to this website
In Japan, Acer also continues to work with Japan’s PC3R Promotion Association computer recycling organization, enabling consumers to register items for recycling online or by email and then send them in by mail. The Association also organizes for the reuse of any products collected that can still produce cyclical value. In Japan, Acer has set up PC Recycling Centers in hopes of encouraging customers to recycle long-used products and upgrade to newer products still in their usable lives. At the same time, this project also ensures that customers’ information security is protected. In 2021, we recycled a total of 68 tons of ICT goods. For information on Acer product recycling in Japan, please refer to this website
In North America, Acer continues to use in-house recycling for waste electronic products providing this in response to regulatory requirements and enabling consumers to make a more environmentally sustainable choice by recycling products in a simple and easy way. Compared with 2020, recycling volume in 2021 decreased due to the reduction of the recycling rate by some state governments and the impact of the pandemic. In 2021, we recycled a total of approximately 3,644 tons of electronic products in North America.
In 2021, Acer provided a trade-in program for consumers who purchased newly launched eco-friendly Aspire Vero products, with rebates up to US$100 available. In addition to offering consumers a lower purchase cost, this also relieves them of the burden of ensuring their old products are properly recycled.
The Acer Tech Trade-up Project in North America continued in 2021, providing consumers with a simple and easy way to recycle products. This project has established a virtuous cycle, rewarding consumers for recycling and for purchasing new products while also putting the recycled waste electronic products back into the process to achieve effective use of resources and avoid misplacement of valuable resources in the recycling system. In 2021, with the effects of the pandemic still present, major educational institution customers prolonged time to asset retirement due to the requirements of remote work or at-home learning, not replacing older machines and resulting in the project showing limited results.
In light of the continuing global demand for lithium batteries, the necessary reliance on cobalt in their manufacturing process, and concerns about child labor associated with raw cobalt mining, in 2021, Acer continued making use of Call2Recycle and internal processes to recycle the lithium batteries contained in Acer mobile devices. In 2021, Acer North America collected some 1,000 kgs of waste batteries through this recycling process, accumulating a total of over 13 metric tons recycled over the three consecutive years from 2018 to 2021.
Worldwide, Acer Group is working to strengthen the environmental sustainability aspect of social responsibility through responsible recycling models. All recycling programs in the United States require the proper disposal and management of waste electronic equipment, components, and materials, as well as the destruction of any data on the equipment to ensure customer information security. We require all recyclers to comply with Acer’s waste disposal standards for the management of end-of-life products, as well as requiring their vendors to obtain Responsible Recycling (R2) or eStewards certification. We also continue to conduct audits of vendors to ensure that their downstream processing methods follow responsible and compliant with standards. In response to the pandemic, audit operations that could not be performed on-site were changed to online audits. Our aim is to ensure that Acer’s recycling program meets the recycling requirements of the latest version of EPEAT and the IEEE 1680.1- standard. For more about recycling programs in the region, please refer to US and Canada website.
Acer also carefully follows the European Union Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Directive with regard to products, batteries, and packaging, aiming to pursue recycling and reduction and providing consumers with information on local recycling channels through their respective national Acer websites.
Our products mainly consist of materials and components which could be reused or recycled during the end of life stage. Based on our calculation, the notebook product has estimated 95% of reuse and recyclable rate.
