25 August
2006 - International — The biggest names in electronics
have just sat their first global exam on their
green credentials. Ranked on their use of toxic
chemicals and electronic waste (e-waste) policies
only Dell and Nokia scraped a barely respectable
score while Apple, Motorola and Lenovo flunked
the test to finish bottom of the class.
Our scorecard highlights which
of the major electronics companies is doing the
most to remove the worst toxic chemicals from
their products and which companies have good recycling
programs for their products
The ranking is important because the amounts of
toxic e-waste is growing everyday and it often
ends up dumped in the developing world. Reducing
the toxic chemicals in products reduces pollution
from old products and makes recycling safer, easier
and cheaper. Companies with good recycling schemes
help ensure that their products don't end up in
the e-waste yards of Asia.
"The scorecard will provide
a dynamic tool to green the electronics sector
by setting off a race to the top. By taking back
their discarded products, companies will have
incentives to eliminate harmful substances used
in their products, since this is the only way
they can ensure safe reuse and recycling of electronic
waste," said Iza Kruszewska, Greenpeace International
toxics campaigner.
Nokia and Dell share the top
spot in the ranking. They believe that as producers
they should bear individual responsibility for
taking back and reusing or recycling their own-brand
discarded products. Nokia leads the way on eliminating
toxic chemicals, since the end of 2005 all new
models of mobiles are free of polyvinyl chloride
(PVC) and all new components to be free of brominated
flame retardants (BFRs) from the start of 2007.
Dell has also set ambitious targets for eliminating
these harmful substances from their products.
Third place goes to HP, followed
by Sony Ericsson (4th), Samsung (5th), Sony (6th),
LG Electronics (7th), Panasonic (8th), Toshiba
(9th), Fujitsu Siemens Computers (10th), Apple
(11th), Acer (12th) and Motorola (13th).
Lenovo is in bottom position.
It earns points for chemicals management and providing
some voluntary product take back programmes, but
it needs to do better on all criteria.
"It is disappointing to
see Apple ranking so low in the overall guide.
They are meant to be world leaders in design and
marketing, they should also be world leaders in
environmental innovation." said Kruszewska.
Companies have the opportunity
to move towards a greener ranking as the guide
will be updated every quarter. However penalty
points will be deducted from overall scores if
we find a company lying, practising double standards
or other corporate misconduct. For now, companies
are scored solely on information publicly available
on their global websites.
With a average score of only
4/10 it is clear that the electronics industry
has a long way to go before it can make any claims
to being a green industry.
