Later today, my colleagues from Dell, Goodwill and the Commonwealth of Virginia will launch the latest expansion of the Reconnect program at a Richmond area event. This new expansion will cover all of Virginia and the Washington, D.C. metro area. Consumers in those areas can bring any brand of used computer in any condition to one of 134 Goodwill centers across the region for free, convenient and responsible recycling. We’re expecting to collect more than 2.5 million pounds of used computer equipment annually from Virginia and the D.C. area alone.
With this launch, Reconnect offers 567 locations for computer recycling in markets across the U.S. We’ll continue to expand our efforts, both Goodwill and Dell share a long term vision of making this program available nationwide. For Dell it’s part of our commitment to lead the industry in providing free and convenient computer recycling. And, the program is helping support Goodwill’s important job training and creation efforts.
I’m also happy to report that Virginia Delegate Ken Plum will be at the launch event today. Del. Plum was the sponsor of Virginia’s Computer Recovery and Recycling Act, which was enacted earlier this year. The e-cycling law requires computer manufacturers to provide free computer recycling to Virginia consumers, allows those manufacturers to be innovative in how they build recycling options and does not create additional cost or bureaucracy for the Virginia government. Dell was a supporter of this legislation. Similar legislation became effective in Texas last month.
We’ll be reporting soon on the launch of additional Reconnect programs. In the meantime, consumers outside of areas were Reconnect is available can always take advantage of Dell’s free and convenient recycling programs.