NEC-Mitsubishi Announces new Monitor Replacement Upgrade and Environmentally Responsible Recycling Program

This week, NEC-Mitsubishi Electronics Display of America, Inc. announced its innovative "Total Trade" computer monitor replacement upgrade and recycling program for corporate customers. This program will offer businesses the opportunity to swap out their older, currently working (as well as non-working) computer monitors, with a trade-in credit given toward an upgrade to new NEC-Mitsubishi LCD flat-panel screen monitors and/or traditional CRT monitors. The traded-in monitors will then be resold, recycled or safely disposed of as part of the "Total Trade" program.

How it works: Customers can take advantage of the Total Trade program by contacting their NEC-Mitsubishi sales representative to first determine an estimated total value of their currently deployed monitors. Customers interested in participating can then go to NEC-Mitsubishi's web site at www.necmitsubishi.com/nmdtradein/add.cfm to fill out and submit the Total Trade request form. NEC-Mitsubishi will provide a quote within 72 hours from the request form, with the quote remaining valid for 30 days. If the customer agrees, they contact NEC-Mitsubishi and coordinate a pickup date for the monitors to be traded in. Upon NEC-Mitsubishi's receipt of the monitors, the monitors are then tested and classified as "working" or "non-working," with working monitors resold to used computer equipment wholesalers at current market rates. Within 30 days, NEC-Mitsubishi will then, at the customer's option, (i) issue the customer a refund check for the resold monitors, (ii) credit the amount of the refund toward a purchase of upgraded monitors or (iii) allocate the customer's monies elsewhere. As to the non-working monitors, NEC-Mitsubishi offers disposal/recycling at low cost to companies in accordance with federal EPA standards and the customer's local regulations, with every returned monitor's disposition tracked and reported in detail to the customer. According to Al Giazzon, Vice President of Marketing at NEC-Mitsubishi Electronics Display of America, "The idea behind Total Trade is to provide a hassle-free process for businesses that want to upgrade their monitor equipment from start-to-finish, yet ensure that they are being environmentally responsible. This program reinforces NEC-Mitsubishi's commitment to help customers make smart monitor purchase decisions." And NEC-Mitsubishi claims that this new program will help save customers in procurement costs as well: based on a sample wholesale return and upgrade of 2,300 monitors, NEC-Mitsubishi would offer a net return of roughly $35,000 US to this hypothetical customer.

Computer monitors contain many highly toxic materials, among them mercury, and reportedly as much as five pounds of lead per monitor; thus, monitors are not easily and safely disposable. The Total Trade program is being touted by Mitsubishi as a cost-effective means for companies to manage total cost of equipment life cycles, and provide for replacement, recycling and disposal of monitors, all within a sales upgrade transaction. We think this program is a concept that is long overdue. So does Bob O'Donnell, Director of Personal Technology for IDC: "With increased global concerns about managing e-waste, it will important for monitor vendors to offer replacement and recycling programs as a value added service."