Five years ago, Best Buy set what many thought was an impossible goal: collecting 1 billion pounds of electronics and appliances by the end of 2014. Not only did the retailer surpass that target this summer, its leadership just pledged to manage an additional 2 billion pounds by 2020 through its takeback program, which spans more than 1,400 U.S. stores. “We’re hoping to collect twice as much in the same amount of time,” said Scott Weislow, senior director of environmental services. By the way, neither the original goal nor the new one includes items that Best Buy might be collecting from business customers, which are considered separately. For perspective, the consumer electronics industry as a whole collected 620 million pounds during 2013, which was double the previous year; the collective goal is 1 billion pounds annually by 2016. Dell, which rivals Best Buy in the reach of its program, is striving to collect 2 billion pounds total by 2020. It’s the only company remotely close to what the retailer has achieved, at least when it comes to consumer collection. Read more… Source: GreenBiz By Heather Clancy