Skip navigation.

follow us on

Green gadgets - The search continues

A pile of electronic waste on a roadside in Guiyu. Enlarge Image

Greener Electronics – Major companies fail to show climate leadership

The latest edition of our Guide to Greener Electronics has revealed that very few firms are showing true climate leadership. Despite many green claims, major companies like Dell, Microsoft, Lenovo, LG, Samsung and Apple are failing to support the necessary levels of global cuts in emissions and make the absolute cuts in their own emissions that are required to tackle climate change.

Boys burning electronic cables and other electrical components in order to melt off the plastic and reclaim the copper wiring. This burning in small fires releases toxic chemicals into the environment. Enlarge Image

Nokia tops latest Greener Electronics Guide

Company scores plummeted in the previous edition of Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics, when new criteria on climate change were introduced. However, leading brands like Nokia and Samsung are now making significant progress in greening their electronics products, with improved environmental policies responding not only to these new energy criteria, but also to the more stringent chemical and e-waste criteria.

A pile of electronic waste on a roadside in Guiyu. Enlarge Image

Company scores plummet in Greener Electronics Guide

With expanded and tougher criteria on toxic chemicals, electronic waste and new criteria on climate change only Sony and Sony Ericsson score more than 5/10 in our latest Guide to Greener Electronics. Nintendo and Microsoft remain rooted to the bottom of the Guide.

綠色和平成員正在行動，阻止有毒洋垃圾進口 Enlarge Image

Illegal e-waste exposed

A container of electronic waste (e-waste) from Port of Oakland in the US was intercepted in Hong Kong by Greenpeace activists. After months of research, we determined that the container was destined for Sanshui district in mainland China meaning that - under Chinese law - the import was illegal. Activists boarded the YM Success, pitched a tent on top of the containers and prevented the illegal e-waste from being offloaded.

The three games console controllers - Xbox 360, Playstation 3 and Nintendo Wii - before the dismantling process begins. Enlarge Image

Game Consoles: No Consolation

Nintendo’s Wii. Sony’s PlayStation 3. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 Elite. They promise a whole new generation of high-definition gaming, but when it comes to the crunch, it’s the same old story. As our search for greener electronics continues, it was time for the game consoles to go to our labs for scientific analysis – and all of them tested positive for various hazardous chemicals.

A pile of e-waste at CeBit 2008. Enlarge Image

What is a green electronics product?

The Sony Vaio TZ11 laptop, Sony Ericsson T650i mobile phone and Sony Ericsson P1i PDA have come out on top in our first survey of greener electronics products. Some products were more advanced than others, but there's definitely room for improvement as none of them scored over 5/10.

A pile of electronic waste on a roadside in Guiyu. Enlarge Image

Where does all the e-waste go?

Do you know what happens when you throw out your old electronic gadgets? Probably not, but considering they contain both toxic chemicals and valuable metals you'd think someone would know? Unfortunately our new report 'Toxic Tech: Not in Our Backyard' reveals the fate of millions of tonnes of e-waste generated each year is largely unknown.

| More

Related news stories

Related Reports

Related Slideshows

Related campaigns

Learn more
Global warming
Oceans
Forests
Nuclear
Toxics
Staff blog
 Media center
Press contacts
News releases
Bloggers Center
Experts
Photos
Videos
 Get involved
Take action
Jobs
Greenpeace Organizing Term
Greenpeace Student Network
 Donate
Renew your membership

Greenpeace Fund
Make a tax-deductible donation
Gift and estate planning

702 H Street, NW, Suite 300, Washington, D.C. 20001 (202) 462-1177