Greenpeace slams Apple Nintendo over eco-credentials
Apple off the hook, a little
Greenpeace has released its latest Guide to Greener Electronics report, ranking Nintendo and Microsoft as some of the world’s least eco-friendly electronics companies.
How each company stacks up in Greenpeace's eyes
The report, which has been expanded from previous versions to include TVs and games consoles, analyses the environmental credentials of 18 companies and awards each a score between one and ten, according to their impact on Mother Nature.
Nintendo, which came in last, is the first company ever to score 'nul points' in the survey. Microsoft, which came in third from bottom, scored a mere 2.7 points because Greenpeace claims it has a poor take-back policy and a long timeline for the elimination of toxic chemicals from its products.
Sony Ericsson, scoring 7.7 points, took first place, partly because its latest models contain no PVC. It wrenched the top spot from rival phone maker Nokia, which slipped down to ninth place with a score of 6.7 points. Greenpeace claims the Finnish phone giant uses toxic chemicals in its products and has deficiencies in its take-back practices in some countries, such as Russia.
HP, Apple, Acer and Panasonic fill out the bulk of the report’s middle ranking companies, with scores of 6.7, 6.0, 5.7 and 5.0, respectively.
Greenpeace praised Apple for its reduction of toxic chemicals in iMacs and iPods, but claims that its take-back programme “still needs more work”. The eco organisation also said that Acer and Panasonic both need to improve reporting on recycling levels.
A full copy of the report is available on Greenpeace’s website.
COMMENTS
iglethal
Greenpeace has always maintained that the whaling ship in question rammed them. Don't think it was ever argued in court or anything, though.
@Liam
You really want to update your PS3 rants, you know. Heavenly Sword isn't 'upcoming'; it came out a few months back. You may have missed the info, however, on the grounds that it turned out to be a load of rubbish. Modern fanboys have moved on to Little Big Planet and MGS4 as their upcoming saviours.
Yes, the PS3 is more powerful technically than the Wii. But not ten times more powerful, and certainly not ten times more fun.
Greenpeace aren't terrorists there just a bunch of sissies!
I wish they were bloody terrorists (or activists or however you want to call them) then maybe they'd do something about the Japanese whaling like they used to (ie ramming ships etc.) instead of the current thing of sailing along next to the whaling vessel with a banner saying save the whales. Yeah thats going to work!
As for this report, who gives a rats ass? Does anyone honestly think this will stop anybody from buying a Wii that was already going to buy one? Or make people buy PS3's instead? Nope... didnt think so...
@Block
they could've just done a 'no information provided', yes. personally I'd use 'no information provided' for use of hazardous materials in manufacturing, but a 0 score for takeback programs (because a takeback program effectively doesn't exist if you don't tell anyone about it; a statement about its existence is more or less a necessary prerequisite for having one in any meaningful sense).
@Mr Williamson
"yeah but comparing a wii to a ps3 is like saying my mini uses less power than my ferrari"
And which of the two is better for the environment do tell?
@mr Williamson
i was always told that null != 0.
What with one being a lack of information and the other being a number... The idea that a non-response means the worst possible outcome is guesswork. Anyone think nintendo are in fact worse than all those other companies? maybe but how can anyone be sure?
The cynic in me might think that greenpeace want all these companies to reply to them so that they can position themselves as a non-official monitoring body rather than a political activism body. Non replies would jeapardise this goal, so giving non replies a 0 might encourage said companies to tow the line and reply next time (to prevent bad PR).
