Dell greens computer packaging with bamboo

Dell Inc. on Tuesday said it is using packaging made from bamboo in shipping its computers, representing the personal computer maker's latest move to be a green technology company.

Bamboo material is being used first in cushions cradling Dell's Inspiron Mini 10 and 10v netbooks to protect the products in shipping and the company plans to expand the use of bamboo packaging to more products in early 2010.

Dell believes that bamboo, which grows fast and helps promote healthy soil, can be a sustainable alternative to molded paper pulp, foams and corrugate often used in packaging.

"The use of bamboo for electronics packaging is pretty new, but its viability as a great packaging material can't be ignored," Oliver Campbell, Dell's senior manager of packaging worldwide, said in a statement.

"We're introducing it with mobile products, as it's proven a strong, sustainable and cost-effective solution for packaging those," Campbell added.

Dell said bamboo material used in its products packaging originates from a forest located in China's Jiangxi Province, which the company noted is "far away from pandas' known habitats."