Before you buy any electronics, check out Greenpeace’s annual Greener Electronics Guide. Now in its tenth edition, the Guide to Greener Electronics unfortunately shows that most consumer electronics companies have been slow to get serious about climate change. Despite much green marketing or green washing, many brands still show little engagement with the issues facing the industry.
The Basel Convention reports that every year an estimated 400 million units of obsolete electronics are scrapped. Four billion pounds of electronic waste was discarded in the United States in 2005. As much as 87.5% of this e-waste was incinerated; or dumped in landfills. Of the remaining 12.5% collected for “recycling”, industry sources claim that about 80% is exported to developing countries where it is processed in primitive conditions, severely endangering the workers, environment and communities.
By 2008, more than 2 billion personal computers will have been sold around the globe. Unfortunately, most electronic goods now have a shelf life of only 2 years.
Since the first edition of the Greener Electronics Guide was published in August 2006, there have been gradual improvements on toxic and e-waste issues, but only a minority of companies are leading on energy and climate change. Motorola, Microsoft, Dell, Apple, Lenovo, Samsung, Nintendo and LG Electronics are lagging behind, with no plans to cut absolute emissions from their own operations. To be considered ‘green’, electronics companies need to equally address energy use, toxics elimination, and recycling of their products.
“Sadly it appears the consumer electronics industry is much better at rhetoric than facing the reality that absolute emission cuts are urgently needed,” said Greenpeace International Climate & Energy campaigner Mel Francis. “It is disappointing that such innovative and fast-changing companies are moving so slowly, when they could be turning the regulation we need on global emissions into a golden business opportunity.”
The biggest changes in the Greener Electronics Guide rankings are Motorola (from 15th to joint 7th), Toshiba (from 7th to 3rd) and Sharp (up from 16th to 10th). Although Apple drops a place, it has improved its total score because of better reporting on the carbon footprint of its products, and although not scoring any extra points, its new iPods are now free of both PVC and brominated flame retardants (BFRs).
The Greener Electronics Guide Version 10: http://www.greenpeace.org/electronics/companyrank
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