Which companies really sell greener electronics?

Posted by jossc — 7 January 2010 at 3:58pm - Comments

Want to know who's really pulling their finger out to give us products that cause the least environmental damage - then look no further.

Our ranking guide, published quarterly since 2006, shows clearly how the 18 top consumer electronics companies line up. But now we've produced a new chart showing which of those companies have eliminated the most harmful chemicals from their product ranges.

Roll over the stars in the chart below to see product details, and click the company name to visit their webpage about reducing harmful chemicals.

Gold stars represent products free of the worst hazardous substances. Smaller stars mean there are lmited products free of worst hazardous substances. A grey star means none of the products made by this company in these product categories are free of worst hazardous substances. And finally, a dash means that the company doesn't make that kind of product.

See the notes below for more information about each company.

Notes

  • APPLE: Apple is leading the way on eliminating toxic PVC and BFRs from all it's new products with the new iMac and MacBook being the first PC's copmpletely free of PVC and BFRs.
  • NOKIA: Almost all of Nokia's new models of mobile phones are free of BFRs. Nokia's new models have been free of PVC since the end of 2005, and it is now aiming to have all new models free of all brominated and chlorinated compounds and antimony trioxide from the start of 2010.
  • SONY ERICSSON: Sony Ericsson has also already banned toxic antimony, beryllium and phthalates from new models launched since January 2008.
  • HP: HP is fast catching up with Apple lead in PVC and BFR phase out and is well ahead of Dell and Lenovo.
  • ACER: Acer needs to expand this range in 2010 to all its products.
  • TOSHIBA: Toshiba has some laptops, phones and TV's partly free of PVC and/or BFRs but needs to match it's competitors products without PVC and BFRs in these product categories. Toshiba has also committed to introduce alternatives to phthalates, beryllium and antimony by 2012 in all its products.
  • DELL: Dell has postponed phase out of PVC and BFRs till 2011, only offereing models with "reduced" amounts of PVC and BFRs such as the .
  • LENOVO: Lenovo has postponed phase out of PVC and BFRs till 2011, only offereing models with "reduced" amounts of PVC and BFRs.
  • SAMSUNG: Samsung needs to remove PVC and BFRs across much more of its product range.
  • LGE: Only LG mobile phones will be free of toxic PVC and BFRs from 2010; TVs, monitors and PCs have to wait until 2012 and household appliance models until 2014. LGE has launched its first mobile phone that is free from PVC and BFRs and has six models of ‘halogen-free’ Optical Disk Drives.
  • FUJITSU: Fujitsu has only some reduced PVC and BFRs models and is behind competitors in removing these substances from PCs.
  • SONY: Sony has only some reduced PVC and BFRs models and is behind competitors in removing these substances from PCs.
  • MOTOROLA: Well behind Nokia, Sony Erricsson in removing PVC and BFRs from all its phones
  • PANASONIC: Panasonic has some products free of PVC or BFRs but not in these product categories and has no commitment to remove these toxic substances across its product range.

About Joss

Bass player and backing vox in the four piece beat combo that is the UK Greenpeace Web Experience. In my 6 years here I've worked on almost every campaign and been fascinated by them all to varying degrees. Just now I'm working on Peace and Oceans - which means getting rid of our Trident nuclear weapons system and creating large marine reserves so that marine life can get some protection from overfishing.

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