Media release - December 6, 2005
Hewlett-Packard employees were greeted by a 30-foot-long blimp with the message “HP = Harmful Products” floating above the ground outside of the company’s international headquarters this morning. Hanging from the blimp was a banner featuring a photograph of a Chinese girl clutching a HP keyboard in a scrapyard filled with electronic waste, or e-waste. Greenpeace activists on the street and a repeating local radio broadcast encouraged workers and passers-by to contact HP CEO Mark Hurd and tell him that HP should be making cleaner products. Greenpeace is calling on the electronics industry worldwide to take responsibility for the lifecycle of their products and start producing products that are cleaner, safer, longer lasting and that do not end up in Chinese and Indian scrapyards.
"HP is a prime example of a dirty electronics company," said
Greenpeace International toxics campaigner Iza Kruszewska. "It has
done little to eliminate hazardous materials in its products, and
it is lagging behind some of its competitors."
Much of North America's e-waste is routinely -- and often
illegally -- shipped to Asia, where it pollutes communities
surrounding the scrapyards with a dangerous cocktail of acids,
carcinogens, and neurotoxins. Workers at electronics manufacturing
and disposal sites are at risk from exposure to poisons such as
lead, mercury and dioxin. The products cannot be recycled safely
once they are discarded and end up contaminating recycling center
workers.
"After two years of disappointing dialogue, we have come to the
international headquarters to let HP employees know that their
products create toxic waste and pollute the environment. Armed
with this information, workers can change the corporate culture
from within and ask their employer to stop using toxic materials in
its products," said Kruszewska.
Some electronics companies, such as Samsung, Sony, Sony
Ericsson, Nokia, LG and Motorola have taken a first step by
committing to the elimination of all types of brominated flame
retardants and PVC plastic from their products on set timelines.
HP, Acer, Apple, Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, IBM, Lenovo, Panasonic, and
Toshiba have, to date, made no such commitment.
Find out more about Greenpeace's
e-waste campaign