Who's The Greenest Electronics Company of Them All?
March 19 2008 / by Venessa Posavec
Category: Environment Year: 2008 Rating: 7
It’s nice to know there’s a watchdog out there trying to correct
the growing problem of e-waste. Environmental group Greenpeace just
released the latest edition of their Guide to Greener Electronics,
which more or less calls out the leading manufacturers that aren’t
taking the measures necessary to eliminate harmful chemical
manufacturing byproducts. 
The Greenpeace guide ranks the top producers of mobile phones, computers, TVs, and game consoles on a 0-10 scale. Scoring is based on the elimination of hazardous substances and the take-back and recycling of products once they become obsolete.
The results proved generally encouraging, though it appears a few companies have yet to see the light. Due to a lack of any type of public policy on toxics elimination or recycling, Nintendo earned last place, registering a pathetic score of 0.3. It seems like quite a black mark to be rated the worst of all the companies on the list. Hopefully all the unflattering attention will spark a bit more environmental concern from the thriving Wii manufacturer when the next report comes out in June. Notably, Microsoft also scored in the unsatisfactory red zone, due to a poor takeback policy and practice.
Almost every other company on the list has continued to make improvements every quarter since the Green Guide launched back in August 2006. Apple’s new MacBook Air was produced with fewer chemicals, and so the company continues to rise on the scale. Since the last report, Samsung and Toshiba jumped from 2nd and 6th place, respectively, to be tied for 1st.
In the case of spurring on social and corporate responsibility, it looks like transparency can be a good thing. It’s nice to know that MOST of the companies we support with our dollars are making efforts to do the right thing. Notice in the chart that no company is of yet actually in the green zone (of course, Greenpeace has not been known to go easy on corporate giants). According to the organization, that honor goes to companies that produce electronics that are completely free of toxic chemicals, energy efficient, durable, and recyclable.
via Greenpeace
to view PDF click here
