As a company, we aspire to be environmentally, socially and financially accountable for our brands and business operations worldwide. We are focused on the environment for a number of reasons. First, we understand that the natural resources we rely on to run our business are finite. Second, we are aware of the growing environmental impact of consumer electronics. And, ultimately, we care about people and the planet, and we know consumers and our employees care, too. Research validates our growing concern about energy use, climate change and healthy natural environment, and we are committed to do our part to be a leader in such areas as recycling and developing and selling energy efficient products.

 

Greener Together

In fiscal 2009, we introduced Greener Together™ as a new way of thinking about how employees across our 1,000 plus U.S. stores can help customers make smart decisions about technology and energy use. We believe that many groups must work together to reduce the impact of consumer electronics on the environment: consumers, manufacturers, business and government. Simply put, we want to make it easier for customers to choose "greener" products, help them use those products more efficiently, and offer convenient ways to recycle and trade in those products. We are excited about the potential of Greener Together(tm) and we believe we can make a positive impact on people's lives, our business and the planet.

 

Recycling

In terms of recycling, as of February 15, 2009, all of our U.S. stores began offering a new electronics recycling program. The program is an "in store" electronics recycling solution for customers to drop off their unwanted consumer electronics. In addition to recycling in-stores, Best Buy also has kiosks located at the front of the stores to accept ink cartridges, rechargeable batteries, cell phones, CDs, DVDs, PDAs/smart phones and gift cards.

Best Buy will also remove an appliance or TV from a customer's home free of charge when a new product is purchased and delivered by Best Buy Home Delivery, or for a modest fee, we'll arrange a home visit to remove up to two appliances or TVs for recycling whether the customer has made a purchase or not. Finally, Best Buy hosted or sponsored 45 community recycling events in fiscal 2009. All told in 2009, we helped to prevent more than 23,000 tons of cardboard and paper, more than 30,000 tons of appliances and more than 14,000 tons of electronics from ending up in land fills around the world.

For more information on our recycling program, please click here.

 

Energy Consumption and Carbon Footprint

In addition to helping our customers to be more energy conscious, we are also taking steps to make our business operations more efficient. In 2009 we continued our commitment to reduce our own energy consumption. Toward that end we have made continuous improvements to our new store design prototype with high efficiency lighting and HVAC systems, use of skylights and other components that reduce energy requirements. We made upgrades of inefficient lighting and HVAC systems in existing stores, implemented a no-idling policy nationwide for all fleet vehicles, implemented an improved operation and control of our centralized Energy Management System (EMS), and began exploring renewable energy technologies that reduce our dependence on fossil-based sources of energy.

We live in the digital age, an era of rapid technological innovation. At the same time, Best Buy recognizes that we have an obligation to provide products and solutions that help people move toward an increasingly sustainable future. We will do this by offering more products and solutions that use less energy and increasingly are made with recycled materials and we will join others in moving toward a low-carbon future by investing in technologies that allow people to enjoy a better standard of living in a sustainable fashion.

Green with Enthusiasm Watch a video on our DC Recycling Program Watch a video about our Energy Star Program