Greenpeace's Electronics Guide cuts through the greenwash
by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Apple, Sony Ericsson and Nokia products free of worst hazardous substances - Samsung, Dell, Lenovo and LGE disappoint, ASUS not even listed.
In Greenpeace's latest Guide to Greener Electronics, Nokia and Sony Ericsson retain top spots on the list while Samsung falls for not meeting a chemical-elimination goal. Greenpeace is now also rating companies based on their support, or silence, on changes to a European Union chemicals law.
Apple, Sony Ericsson and Nokia lead the way for product ranges free of the worst hazardous substances with HP following their lead. Yesterday, HP added to its portfolio of products completely free of PVC vinyl plastic and brominated flame retardants (BFRs), releasing a desktop PC and a notebook series.
Samsung, Dell, Lenovo and LGE pick up penalty points in the Guide for failing to follow through on a promised phase-out of toxic materials in their products.
The majority of the companies in the Guide had pledged to remove toxic PVC and BFRs from their product range by the end of 2009, which would have meant a greater show of greener, toxic-free products for visitors to preview at the CES. But, for now, it's a no show for these companies, who have delayed their phase-out to 2011 or beyond.
Nokia stays in 1st place with a slightly reduced score of 7.3, losing a point for failing to do proactive lobbying for the revised RoHS (Restriction of Hazardous Substances in electronics) Directive to adopt a methodology for further restrictions of hazardous substances, and immediately ban chlorinated and brominated substances. As of this version of the Guide, Criterion C1 has been sharpened to require companies not only to have a chemicals policy underpinned by the precautionary principle, but also to support a revision of the RoHS Directive that bans further harmful substances, specifically brominated flame retardants (BFRs), chlorinated flame retardants (CFRs) and PVC vinyl plastic.
The company, often claiming to be so very green, with Bamboo-covered laptops, ASUS, is entirely absent in the ratings and one can but wonder what score that company has in this Greenpeace rating. Other companies too are missing, though ACER, on the other hand, is present, though not at the top.
By way of explanation PVC contaminates humans and the environment throughout its lifecycle; during its production, use, and disposal it is the single most environmentally damaging of all plastics, and can form dioxin, a known carcinogen, when burned. Some BFRs are highly resistant to degradation in the environment and are able to bio-accumulate (build up in animals and humans).
With the growth of electronic waste, workers who deal with e-waste and the wider community are at significant health risks. Burning of e-waste to recover valuable resources, as routinely takes place in the backyards of China, India and much of the South, can form dioxins. Eliminating the substances will decrease exposure and increase the recyclability and reusability of electronic products.
Eliminating sending our E-waste to China and other such countries would do away with the problem of such wild recycling practices in the first place.
We are using the likes of China, India, countries in Africa, etc. as dumping grounds for our waste to be recycled or, at times, not recycled and just dumped.
Those practiced need to be stopped and that now. Recycling and reclamation of materials out of the stuff that we dump should be done in our backyards, so to speak, and not the backyards of other countries. Then and only then will the manufacturers phase out the toxic substances; when they can no longer, because of what they contain, sell them in the developed world.
The report can be downloaded here in PDF at a size of 3MB.
© 2010
