How the companies line up: 5th edition

We first released our 'Guide to Greener Electronics' in August 2006. The guide ranks the 14 top manufacturers of personal computers and mobile phones according to their policies on toxic chemicals and recycling.

In this fifth issue of the Guide, Nokia maintains top spot with Sony Ericsson close behind. Dell and Lenovo tie for third place. Sony is the biggest mover and together with LGE has moved out of the red zone. Apple, Panasonic, Acer, Toshiba and Samsung move down the ranking for failing to make any additional improvements. HP is the only constant faller in the guide and is now in 13th position.


	8	Nokia - Maintains top position for eliminating the worst chemicals from many products. Still needs to report recycling rate percentage. More
	7.7	Sony Ericsson - Moving up for greener products on the market and for pledging to have products free of the worst chemicals by 2008. Needs better takeback reporting program. More
	7.3	Dell - Loses points for not having models free of the worst chemicals. Strong support for global takeback. More
	7.3	Lenovo - Loses points for not having a clear global take back program. Yet to put products free of the worst chemicals on the market. More
	7	LGE - Previous penalty point on the takeback policies lifted. Has now products free of the worst chemicals. Improvement needed on its global take back. More
	7	Sony - The biggest mover with improved take back program and more products free of the worst chemicals. Previous penalty point on take-back policy lifted, but loses points for not reporting recycling rate percentage. More
	7	Fujitsu-Siemens - Moves up for increasing its recycling program. Some models free of worst chemicals, but loses point for no clear timelines for eliminating the worst chemicals. More
	6.7	Samsung - No improvements but good chemicals policy. No products that are free from the worst chemicals. Takeback program not yet global and needs improvement. More
	6.7	Motorola - Some improvements on takeback plans globally and for having products free of the worst chemicals. It loses points for no clear timelines for eliminating these chemicals in all products. More
	6	Toshiba - Made steps for providing some models without the worst chemicals and working takeback program globally but loses points for not reporting on their recycling plans. More
	5.7	Acer - Dropping back with no improvements. Loses points for not providing models free of the worst chemicals. Needs to improve on takeback program. More
	5.3	Apple - Dropping back with no improvements. Concrete timelines to eliminate the worst chemicals but loses points for not have models without the worst chemicals and weak take back program. More
	5.3	Hewlett Packard - In free fall, still failing to provide clear timelines for eliminating the worst chemicals. Loses points for weak definition of take back policies. More
	5	Panasonic -Falling to the bottom of the ranking without any improvements. Some products free of the worst chemicals. Loses point for poor takeback program. More

Ranking criteria explained

The ranking criteria reflect the demands of the Toxic Tech campaign to the electronics companies. Our two demands are that companies should:

clean up their products by eliminating hazardous substances;

takeback and recycle their products responsibly once they become obsolete.

The two issues are connected. The use of harmful chemicals in electronics prevents their safe recycling when the products are discarded. Companies scored marks out of 30 this has then been calculated to a mark out of 10 for simplicity.

Follow the more link beside each company for the full details of their score. The full criteria for scoring the companies is available. Download the full pdf of the scorecard.

Each score is based solely on public information on the companies website. Companies found not to be following their published policies will be deducted penalty point in future versions of the guide.

The guide is updated every 3 months. The current version was published on the 19 September 2007.

Disclaimer: Our 'Guide to Greener Electronics' aims to clean up the electronics sector and get manufacturers to take responsibility for the full life cycle of their products, including the electronic waste that their products generate. The guide does not rank companies on labour standards, energy use or any other issues, but recognises that these are important in the production and use of electronics products.