Tech industry still leaving dirty great footprints, says Greenpeace
Improving but must try harder
Consumer electronic goods are a little bit greener than those sold a year ago, according to a new report from Greenpeace.
However, the eco-hardliner pressure group has warned that the industry could still do a whole lot more to improve its environmental footprint.
Greenpeace found that fewer electronic products on the market contained PVC plastic. It added that fewer hazardous chemicals were being used in manufacturing.
Vendors are using “larger quanties of post-consumer recycled plastic” in televisions and monitors, said the group.
Lenovo came out on top of the Greenpeace list with its L2440x wide computer monitor scoring 6.9 points out of 10.
Other product category winners included Sharp’s LC-52GX5 TV, which scored 5.92 points, Samsung’s F268 mobile phone (5.42), Hewlett-Packard’s Elitebook 2530P laptop (5.48) and the Lenovo ThinkCentre M58 Desktop (5.88).
Greenpeace focused its scoring criteria on toxic chemical phase-out, energy efficiency, product lifespan and energy used in production. Additional points were given for something Greenpeace likes to describe as, er, “unique innovation”.
“The electronics industry is heading in the right direction. To stay in the race, each company needs to put its foot on the accelerator, applying any progress it has made across all of its product lines and adopting each other’s best practices,” said Greenpeace international toxics campaigner Casey Harrell.
“We’re confident that, as part of the most innovative industry on the planet, these companies can step up to this green challenge.”
However, not everyone in the tech industry took part in the survey. Notable absentees included Apple, Microsoft and Asus. ®
COMMENTS
@ Robert Pogson
Agreed.
I think that government needs to step in on this issue, I know they interfere too much already in many areas, and charge recycling fees for old electronics equipment and higher fees up front for any new electronics equipment. Not a very popular idea I'm sure, but perhaps then there would be a market companies that can write fast, functional, efficient software that actually uses the potential processing power of the computers we have.
Hardware companies whose equipment is found to deteriorate too quickly, hard to define, could be charged some additional fee. This is to break the engineered obsolescence that manufactures love to build into equipment and, in my opinion, the leading down fall of North American car manufacturers.
@ Graham Jordan - if by shit you mean stable and functional you're right. Otherwise, I'd like to know what alternatives you are offering.
Unique innovation ?
What, innovation is no longer enough now ? It has to be unique innovation ?
I gather that Greenpeace has bitten the corporate speak bullet, where the meaning of the word has been beaten to a pulp by adding it willy-nilly to just about every PR puff piece made in the last ten years.
So now innovation has to be unique to be meaningful. How long until Microsoft "embraces" the new definition and "expands" its meaning the next time it moves a button around in the UI ?
After all, the true meaning of "innovation" has been just about extinguished, hasn't it ?
"Greenpeace still a pain in the arse, says me"
"Independent charity 'me' issued a release yesterday saying "Greenpeace still persists in issuing annoying press releases to be gobbled up by a hungry media, although thankfully numbers are down on last year." A spokesman added "organisations like Greenpeace need to wake up and stop with this nonsense, it's the sanity of the planet at stake". In a recent survey (of 2 people), 100% said they wanted Greenpeace to "STFU", and 50% expressed a liking for "Steak and Kidney pie". Later, 'me' issued another release drawing attention to the fact that detectable quantities of 'chemicals' are present in Greenpeace releases, adding "In large quantities, some 'chemicals' can be dangerous, and can even be found in cancer in babies. Chemicals are also linked to smoking and crack cocaine. A recent study revealed that when rats are injected with chemicals, there is a slight possibility that they may turn into giant walruses that sing Auld Lang Syne". We asked the government for their response on this sensitive issue, and they claimed that "34% of chemicals are caused by speeding. All large companies should be nationalised immediately." "
