First of all, I would like to thank the chairman for giving me
the opportunity to speak here.
My name is Kevin May. I am from China and I work for Greenpeace.
I have been campaigning for clean electronic products, and have
spent a lot of time at the electronic waste yards and I would like
to share with you the personal experience at those yards that I
have.
Over the last few years we have been asking all electronics
corporations like HP to take responsibility for the full life cycle
of their products.
Specifically, we ask all of them to phase out toxic substances
in their products. Last year I was personally involved in frequent
communications with HP in Beijing and also at your European
headquarters in Geneva.
In HP's new "Global Citizenship Report" you announced some very
positive steps about its environmental policy committing the
company to phase out certain hazardous substances such as PVC
plastics and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from your
products.
Greenpeace applauds this first step taken by HP and we are
addressing you as shareholders to help make sure HP follows through
on this commitment to eliminate these hazardous chemicals and
ultimately all hazardous chemicals from its products so that no
harm is caused to the environment or human health.
However, we're concerned that HP's commitment contains some
conditions that could cause your proposed timeline to slip. We
therefore recommend that you make public regular progress reports
at least every 6 months on the status of meeting your
deadlines.
The HP's commitment is not the first. Other electronic companies
like LGE, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony and Sony Ericsson, have
made similar commitments earlier.
We believe that this is the right direction for HP. But as a
leader in the market globally and a key player in the market in
China where I come from and where we are campaigning, we urge HP to
continue its leadership role and you as the shareholders will make
sure these commitments are fully implemented.
This is because e-waste is still a very urgent threat to the
environment and people's health, in particular those in developing
countries like China, where much of the e-waste comes from
countries, like the US.
In China, most e-waste is dumped at a place, called Guiyu which
is a small town in the southern coastal region of china, about 300
miles away from Hong Kong. A few decades ago it used to be an
agricultural region, uncontaminated by toxic industry. But now the
town is heavily polluted. Cathode ray tubes, toner cartridges and
circuit boards are dumped along riverbanks, open fields and even
irrigation ditches. Open burning of wires and cables is also
commonly practiced on the outskirts of the town, producing black
plumes of smoke. In fact, the whole town is enveloped in an acrid
smell and black smoke. The major rivers there have all become
blackened. Local residents actually have to buy water from other
towns, instead of drinking it from local taps and wells.
Every hour of every day poorly paid workers handle dangerous
e-waste without any protective equipment. They use primitive tools
such as hammers and chisels to dismantle these hazardous wastes.
Worse still, a lot of them are women and small children, who have
very little knowledge about the toxicity of these wastes.
One of the most horrendous things I saw in the Guiyu dismantling
yards was children playing with e-waste. Tragically these wastes
are often the only toys they have. For example, one child of a
migrant worker family was playing with an HP cartridge. His face
was covered with your toner. He was only 3 years old!
A recent study by a local medical university (the Shantou
University) showed that local children have high levels of lead in
their blood.
So, if HP is to be the leader in the industry, not only in terms
of sales, but also in its efforts to protect the environment and
the health of these children, it needs to do more: HP needs to
green itself and lead the rest of the industry as soon as possible
and only deviate by adding to or exceeding its goals rather than
postponing any.
Thank you again for allowing us the time to address you and we
are happy to answer any question now or later.
Other contacts: Steve Smith, Greenpeace USA, (202) 413-8521
Rick Hind, Greenpeace USA, (202) 413-8513
Exp. contact date: 2006-04-28 00:00:00