Greenpeace unleashes Captain Kirk on HP

Greenpeace today claimed the support of TJ Hooker himself, William Shatner, in its battle with IT giants over their use and disposal of toxic chemicals.

In a guerilla action against HP's global headquarters in Palo Alto, activists daubed "HP = Hazardous Products" in paint ("non-toxic finger paint") on the roof this morning. At time of writing, 0800 local time, a climbing team was negotiating with local police.

Meanwhile employees are being greeted at their desks by automated phone messages from Shatner calling on the firm to phase out toxic chemicals, which Greenpeace says cause major environmental and health damage when obsolete equipment is dumped in the developing world.

The pressure group has singled out HP as the world's number one PC vendor, claiming its environmental efforts are poor compared to rivals Acer, Apple, Dell and Lenovo.

"Instead of going back on its commitments, HP should be following the lead of companies like Apple, which has led the sector in phasing out these toxic chemicals," said campaign manager Casey Harrell.

Greenpeace said that earlier this year HP postponed a commitment to stop using brominated flame retardants and polyvinyl chloride plastics in its products.

Harrell told The Register he and fellow campaigners were anticipating a long day at HP headquarters. He said pictures from the protest as well as audio of Shatner's message will be posted on Greenpeace's US website here.

We called HP for a response, but their phones were engaged, presumably as they all listened enthralled to the voice of Kirk. ®

Update

HP said in a statement: "The unconstructive antics at HP's headquarters today did nothing to advance the goals that all who care about the environment share.

"HP will continue its efforts to develop new products and programs around the globe that help the company, its business partners and customers conserve energy, reduce materials use and reduce waste through responsible reuse and recycling."