HP, Dell and Lenovo have been criticised for breaking
promises to remove hazardous chemicals from their
products.
Greenpeace's latest
"
Guide to Greener Electronics" list, which ranks the biggest
technology companies on their green practices, shows that the
world's biggest PC makers have all failed to improve their poor
performance.
The three companies have backtracked on pledges to remove toxic
materials such as PVC and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from
their products by the end of this year.
Apple is the only PC manufacturer that is phasing toxic
substances out. Its new computer lines are virtually free of PVC
and completely BFR-free. But the company was only 11th in the
ranking because it has "unreasonably high threshold limits for BFRs
and PVC in products that are allegedly PVC and BFR-free".
And while Dell, Lenovo and Acer have provided consumers with PVC
and BFR-free alternatives, HP has not managed this.
Greenpeace International toxics campaigner Tom Dowdall said,
"Greenpeace holds companies accountable for their promises. There
are no excuses for backtracking, and no reason for these companies
not to have PCs free of PVC and BFRs now."
While at current prices using alternative materials adds
slightly to the cost of PCs, Dowdall said this would not be the
case if companies bought in bulk and drove the price down.
PVC and BFRs do not just cause problems if they end up
dumped on a Nigerian beach. Both contaminate humans and the
environment throughout their lifecycle, and disposal is extremely
environmentally damaging.
Greenpeace uses a list of measures to determine how
environmentally friendly a technology company is, including how
durable a product is, meaning less frequent replacement is
required. It also looks at ease of recycling and use of toxic
chemicals.
Nokia came top again, with a score of 7.4 out of 10. Samsung and
Sony Ecrisson were second and third, followed by LGE, Toshiba and
Motorola. Sony has dropped from 5th to 12th position as its
performance has dropped, particularly on e-waste recycling. Dell,
HP, Microsoft, Lenovo, Fujitsu and Nintendo make up the bottom of
the table.
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