Environmental watchdog and activism group Greenpeace has updated its report card on the manufacturing and recycling practices of computer and mobile manufacturers. Greenpeace ranks companies’ policies and processes on two interrelated criteria: action taken to remove hazardous chemicals and materials from their products, and their efforts to recycle and take back products once they become obsolete.
At the top of Greenpeace’s list—but still not firmly in the organization’s "green" criteria—is Finlands’s Nokia, which ranked well across all areas, but which Greenpeace feels still needs to set clear timelines for phasing out PVC (PolyVinyl Chloride) from its processes. Motorola jumped from next-to-last to fourth place overall, largely on the basis of public commitments to convert to eco-friendly processes. Greenpeace also reports that computer makers Acer and Lenovo are promised to remove hazardous materials from their products.
The bottom of the list is Apple Computer, which Greenpeace’s toxic campaigner Iza Kruszewska characterized as having made "absolutely no improvements to its policies or practices since the ranking was first released three months ago, although most of its competitors have improved environmental policies." The characterization is unusual since Apple is usually regarded as one of the greener of electronics manufacturers, regularly noting how much electronic waste it has recycled, committing to recycling e-waste domestically rather than shipping it overseas, and shaming other manufacturers into introducing retail take-back and recycling programs. But according to Greenpeace, the famously secretive company has made no improvements to its policies or practices since Greenpeace issued its first report card in August, has never disclosed hazardous substances included in its products, and has offered no timelines or commitments to removing PVCs or brominated flame retardants from its products.
