Dear Jeff Bezos - Part 2: I get a disappointing answer and try again!

Couple of days ago I wrote to Jeff Bezos, explaining to him that I'm considering to buy the Kindle but I first want to know more about the Kindle's environmental and social impacts.

I wrote Jeff Bezos that my request is very simple: Please make sure the Kindle is as environmentally and socially friendly as possible and share the information about your efforts with me and other interested stakeholders. You can read the whole letter here.

Couple of days went by and I received a reply. Well, not from Jeff, but on his behalf. Here it is:

Hi Raz,

I'm Valari Parmenter of Amazon.com's Executive Customer Relations. Jeff Bezos received your e-mail and asked me to respond on his behalf.

We’ve carefully reviewed your concerns and understand you feel strongly about this issue. We require our suppliers to be in compliance with all applicable manufacturing laws to sell on Amazon.com.

I'm happy you're also concerned about properly recycling Kindle. Amazon.com recognizes the importance of recycling electronic equipment at the end of its useful life so we’ve created a recycling program for Kindles and Kindle batteries. All Kindles sent in for recycling will undergo material reclamation by a licensed recycling facility and Amazon covers all the costs associated with shipping and recycling. For more information about this program, please visit the link below:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-1?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200197550&qid=1282087346&sr=1-1

We value all feedback from our customers, and I thank you for taking the time to send us your comments about this issue. Although we won't be able to comment further on this topic, we hope you'll allow us to continue to serve you.

Thanks for your interest in Kindle!

Regards,

Valari C Parmenter
Executive Customer Relations
Amazon.com
http://www.amazon.com

It won't surprise you that I was a little bit disappointed with this reply. Although Valerie discouraged from continuing this dialog, I decided to reply and be more clear and specific. Maybe it's my fault and the request wasn't understood. So here's my reply to Valari:

Hi Valari,

Thank you for your reply. I appreciate it, but I'm not sure I received an answer to the main concerns I brought up, which were:

1. What efforts Amazon is making to ensure the Kindle is as environmentally and socially friendly as possible?

2. When will Amazon publish the Kindle's footprint and share information about it with its stakeholders?

E-waste is becoming an increasingly important issue (even the EPA is making it now a top priority - http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/08/18/epa-chief-cites-e-waste-as-a-top-priority/), so I appreciate the information on your recycling program, but I was wondering what Amazon is doing to incentivize its customers to recycle their Kindle devices besides making the recycling program available?

I look forward to hearing from you.

Best,
Raz

Now we need to wait. I hope to hear from Valari soon. In any case I'll keep you posted!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Plant a tree for every book you read!