Balcones Recycling Partnership with Dell Computer Corporation Wins National Environmental Award.

Business Editors and Environmental Writers

CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 19, 2000

Good ideas don't go unnoticed. The National Recycling Coalition awarded Balcones Recycling's partnership with Dell Computer Corp. (Nasdaq:DELL) the Tim McClure Award for Outstanding Environmental and Community Leadership. The Tim McClure Award, presented during the opening session of the NRC's annual Congress and Exposition, is named for the founder of the non-profit Summit Recycling Project. The award salutes organizations that show initiative and commitment to recycling, the environment and the community.

The 2000 award recognizes the achievements in recycling and waste reduction resulting from Balcones Recycling's implementation of Dell's Reduce, Reuse, Recycle (R3) initiatives. The R3 initiatives include three major programs that focus on recycling within Dell's offices and manufacturing facilities in the United States, and in schools near its headquarters in central Texas.

Balcones Recycling's partnership with Dell represents one of the largest and most successful waste minimization, diversion and recycling efforts in the United States. With R3, Balcones placed trained personnel on-site at Dell to design and manage all aspects of waste handling and recycling. Balcones Recycling's R3 programs capture more than 25 different types of materials for recycling and reuse in Dell office and manufacturing facilities including cardboard, office paper, plastics, foams, metals, wood pallets, and reusable parts and packaging materials. Balcones' Anything That Tears(tm) office recycling program at Dell is the largest in the nation and allows Dell employees to mix all types of recyclable paper in the same container, making it one of the most user-friendly recycling systems in the country.

Innovative reuse programs developed by Balcones Recycling have had the single greatest economic and environmental impact on the results of R3. In Dell's manufacturing facilities, innovative reuse programs put into action by Balcones save packaging materials and parts, and then returns them to suppliers.

Since Dell's partnership with Balcones Recycling began in 1997, the computer giant has achieved a remarkable 80 percent recycling rate and has diverted more than 40,000 tons (1,700 tons per month) of material from local landfills and saved more than $16 million ($1.3 million per month) every year.

The genesis of this one-of-a-kind program began when Dell and Balcones Recycling employees together formed a team to set recycling goals and measure results at Dell's newest manufacturing facility. Within six months, Balcones measured a 95 percent landfill diversion rate in the facility. And because the program proved to be such an enormous environmental and economic success, Dell decided to expand the program to its office and manufacturing facilities throughout the U.S.

The third piece of the R3 partnership is in the classroom. Balcones and Dell invest savings and revenues generated through Dell's R3 efforts in the STAR3 (Schools That Actively Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) school recycling program. The STAR3 program provides Anything That Tears(tm) recycling service and education projects targeting recycling, waste reduction, reuse and other environmental initiatives at 11 schools in the central Texas area, reaching more than 8,500 children and families.

Balcones Recycling is a corporate paper recycling and environmental services company headquartered in Austin, Texas. With facilities located in Austin, Dallas and Little Rock, Balcones Recycling serves a customer base of corporations, manufacturing facilities, office buildings, government agencies, educational institutions and commercial printers. With more than 25 years of experience in recycling and environmental services, Balcones Recycling has produced remarkable results for many corporate clients including meeting aggressive waste reduction and financial goals. Balcones Recycling employs more than 225 people in the U.S., with 126 team members and managers on-site at Dell's Austin and Nashville area facilities. Information on Balcones Recycling can be obtained on the World Wide Web at www.if-it-tears.com.

Founded in 1978, the National Recycling Coalition (NRC) is a non-profit organization representing all the diverse interests committed to the common goal of maximizing recycling to achieve the benefits of resource conservation, solid waste reduction, environmental protection, energy conservation and social and economic development. Tim McClure, founder of the non-profit Summit Recycling Project in Breckenridge, Colo., was a community leader in recycling and environmental causes.