Greenpeace guide frowns on HP, still loves Nokia

Greenpeace released its latest Guide to Greener Electronics on Wednesday, revealing that promises aren't always kept.

The Greenpeace guide, which started in 2006, ranks the top 17 PC, cell phone, TV, and gaming console manufacturers based on their policies regarding e-waste, climate change, and use of toxic chemicals.

Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Lenovo all dropped in the rankings for failing to live up to public promises to eliminate polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from their computers by the end of 2009, according to Greenpeace.

While 2009 isn't over yet, Greenpeace noted that the companies have reset their clocks. HP (14th place) formally pushed back its phase-out of the chemicals to 2011. Dell (13th place) will fail to meet the 2009 deadline, but has offered no new timeline. Lenovo (down from 14th to 16th place) changed to a 2010 deadline, and Greenpeace claimed it has information that even that deadline will be dropped.

In conjunction with the release, members of the group protested at HP's Beijing facilities last week.

Apple, meanwhile, dropped to 11th place from 9th. Greenpeace gave the Mac maker kudos for its success in making products completely BFR-free and "virtually free of PVC," as well as its green computer campaign. But Apple was scolded for using "unreasonably high threshold limits for BFRs and PVC in products that are allegedly PVC-/BFR-free." As experts have noted, since there is currently no widespread standard for reporting on many environmental and carbon footprint issues, companies have been struggling to determine their own guidelines. Apparently, Greenpeace didn't like the ones it saw Apple using for this category.

Microsoft remained in 15th place, still admonished by Greenpeace for not having a better customer e-waste return policy.

Samsung garnered 2nd for succeeding in producing PVC-free LCD TVs and lowering the overall amount of toxins in its other products by significant amounts. Sony Ericsson moved up from 5th place to 3rd for improving its energy efficiency.

Last place? Still Nintendo, though Greenpeace gave the Wii maker points for switching to PVC-free internal wiring in their gaming consoles.

First place continues to be the province of Nokia, which remains the greenest company in the eyes of Greenpeace, notably for the success of its take-back program for used phones.

While many companies have gotten serious about recycling tech junk, Greenpeace sees e-waste as one of the most serious forms of pollution going unchecked.

The environmental organization claims that e-waste is the fastest growing contributor of municipal waste because of the frequency at which people upgrade to new cell phones, computers, and other electronics. According to its estimates, 20 million to 50 million tonnes of electronics are thrown away each year worldwide.(Others estimate that e-waste will plateau by 2015.)

[HeavyJim]

Does anybody actually take greenpeace serious? How much fuel did they burn in those old icebreakers they cruise the world in?

[technologyRules]

I think these reports are valuable. Past reports have been successful in changing the product formulations of these companies.

[tgable]

Nokia probably paid more to Greenpeace than Nokia. Greenpeace tackles issues (?) where they can drive revenues. Check how their budgets and payrolls have grown over the years and correlate to their campaigns.

[gsmiller88]

Finally, a segment Nokia actually dominates :-P

[Michichael]

This just in - ecoterrorists post list of companies they hate. Next on the slow news day, a panda bear that uses a computer to look at porn.

[zeljko-boskovic]

Learning from the master: Looking after environment. The 'spin-off' of Nokia, Bravioz Oy is creating Green Transportation Eco-System.

[reflectonit80]

Candace Lombardi, I don't understand your information. It seems to go against the Greenpeace link you provided.

You wrote: "Hewlett-Packard, Dell, and Lenovo all dropped in the rankings". However, I clicked on the link you provided, and it looks like Hewlett-Packard and Dell both improved from the last guide, and only Lenovo dropped.

Hewlett-Packard went from a score of 2.7 to 3.5, and a rank of 16/17 to 14/18. Dell went from 3.7 to 3.9, and 13/17 to 13/18. I guess Dell stayed the same rank-wise, but 13 out of 18 is better than 13 out of 17. Only Lenovo seems to have dropped. 3.1 to 2.5 and 14/17 to 16/18

What's going on? I am a little concerned I can't even read what looks like a simple chart.

[clamenza]

The only way to ensure people use products (in the broadest sense, including base materials), is to make the economic costs reflective of the social cost (landfills, toxic exports to developing worlds, etc).

[DeathByWonkavision]

Greenpeace seems a bit misguided here. While I agree that companies like Samsung do deserve praise, I don't agree that companies like Apple, Nintendo and Microsoft, which do little manufacturing of their own, should be ranked alongside Samsung, which ultimately is the source of all e-waste (at least a good chunk of it).