Exposing the green offenders
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Computer manufacturers damned in Greenpeace Green IT report
Ever since green fever swept the globe in 2006, computer manufacturers have fallen over one another to demonstrate their ecological credentials. But it can be difficult to assess the veracity of their claims.
Not only are the devices themselves – and the supply chains that support their manufacture – highly complex, it is also hard to assess which practices are genuinely beneficial to the environment, and which are merely so much ‘green wash’.
However, Greenpeace, an environmental charity that can be relied upon to take the issues rather more seriously than most, is not afraid to delve into that complexity. The organisation’s ‘Guide to Greener Electronics’ assesses the environmental impact of various household name hitech manufacturers’ products, and its newly-published eighth edition makes for some eye-opening reading.
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Companies whose products received particular condemnation include Fujitsu and Lenovo. Fujitsu scored especially poorly in the ewaste assessment, which measures the environmental impact of products after they are thrown away.
“Fujitsu now plans to totally abolish the use of PVC and the brominated flame retardant (BFR) HBCDD in PCs – and only PCs - by the end of 2013,” the report said, highlighting two particularly hazardous substances commonly found in electronic equipment. “But [it] scores no points on this criterion as it does not commit to phase out all BFRs.”
Chinese PC maker Lenovo was penalised “for backtracking on its commitment to eliminate PVC and brominated flame retardants (BFRs)”. Similarly, Hewlett-Packard, the world’s largest PC maker, was criticised for admitting that it would fail to meet its targets for eliminating PVC and BFRs.
In typical confrontational style, Greenpeace protested outside HP’s Dutch headquarters following this admission. Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson received the highest rankings among the vendors. But even the top dog, Finland’s mobile giant, came in for some criticism.
“Its recycling rate of 3-5% is very poor and more information is needed on how Nokia calculates these figures,” the report said. “It also needs to start using recycled plastics beyond just packaging.”
Clearly, the high-tech manufacturing industry has a long way to go before its impact on the environment is anything but negative. And, as Greenpeace itself has highlighted, this is not simply an environmental issue: electronic waste dumps in countries including Ghana are blighting the lives of those who live around them.
As ever, though, it is customers not campaigners that have the greatest chance of influencing that industry. Find more details at www.greenpeace.org/electronics
