Feature story - January 29, 2008
Three of the greatest heroes of the video game world have come together to battle for a future free of toxic chemicals. The iconic figures of Nintendo's Mario, Microsoft's Master Chief and Sony's Kratos are the lead characters in our new website, "Clash of the Consoles," where gamers can urge game console makers to go green.
In gamespace, everybody wants to save the world. But back here
on planet Earth, games consoles contain deadly agents of real
destruction: toxic chemicals that shouldn't be there and may add to
the mountain of e-waste when consoles are thrown away. On "Clash of
the Consoles" you can check out how your favorite game heroes stand
up against their rivals on toxics, recycling and energy, and how
you can help battle the boss monsters to green their game.
We've created this site because our investigations have revealed
that Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony do not have games consoles free
of the worst toxic chemicals. Also, Microsoft and Nintendo do not
take responsibility for their consoles when they become
obsolete.
Game consoles have components common to PCs, in which levels of
hazardous chemicals are being reduced. But console manufacturers
have so far failed to achieve any progress in cutting back on the
same substances in their products.
"They are lagging way behind the makers of mobile phones and PCs
who have been reducing the toxic load of their products over the
past year," said Zeina Al Hajj, Greenpeace International toxics
campaigner. "Game consoles contain many of the same components as
PCs so manufacturers can do a lot more," she continued.
This site is just a part of our campaign for greener
electronics. Every quarter we publish a guide to how the major
makers of PCs, mobile phones, TVs and game consoles measure up
against criteria on toxic chemicals and recycling. In the past,
we've protested against HP's use of toxic chemicals, helped push
Apple towards a greener future and penalised companies like Sony,
LG, Motorola and Nokia when their actions have not lived up to
their green words.
Extra cost?
PC makers are already removing toxic chemicals in some
applications without increasing prices to consumers. Sony, for
instance, is boasting of having saved money by carefully managing
and optimising its takeback programmes. These measures should not
mean consoles would become any more expensive.
Let's Play
You hold the controller. You - the customers - are the people
these companies listen to.
Visit the site to check how your favorite game console measures
up and urge the company that made it to move to the next level of
the green challenge.
Take action
Urge the console makers to go green!