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How the companies line up - Nov 2008

Apple's site boasts "A Greener Apple" banner to announce a change in policy. Enlarge Image

Tasty news from Apple!

We are cheering! Steve Jobs has decided to bring us closer to the greener apple that Mac users all over the world have been asking for.

Electronic waste in Guangdong, China As much as 4,000 tonnes of toxic e-waste are discarded every hour. Vast amounts are routinely and often illegally shipped as waste from Europe, USA and Japan to places where unprotected workers recover parts and materials. Enlarge Image

Chinese company tops Greenpeace "Green Ranking" of electronics industry

The latest Greenpeace ranking of electronic manufacturers' recycling and toxic content policies has a couple of surprises: a previously low ranked Chinese company leaps to the number one spot, and Apple stays in last place.

A boy winces at the acrid smoke rising from the computer motherboards being melted over open fires in a electronics waste (e-waste) recycling yard in Delhi. Such open air burning of electronics parts to recover metals causes large exposure of workers and the environment to toxic pollution. Enlarge Image

Electronics companies race to be greener

Acer and Lenovo are the latest of the top computer makers to commit to stop using the worst toxic chemicals in their products. Along with Motorola these companies are the biggest movers in the latest version of our Guide to Greener Electronics. Disappointingly for Mac fans, Apple has dropped to last place.

Does this belong to you? Apple e-waste in China. Enlarge Image

Green my Apple, Steve

Here at Greenpeace, we love our Macs. But we hate the fact that they're full of toxic chemicals. And we know someone who can do something about it: you.

Dismantling laptop prior to testing for toxic chemicals. Enlarge Image

HP and Apple's toxic laptops exposed

Some of the best-known laptops are contaminated with some of the worst toxic chemicals. Of the five top brands we tested Hewlett-Packard and Apple laptops showed the worst contamination levels.

Piles of cables and computer waste awaiting scrapping. Enlarge Image

Your guide to green electronics

The biggest names in electronics have just sat their first global exam on their green credentials. Ranked on their use of toxic chemicals and electronic waste (e-waste) policies only Dell and Nokia scraped a barely respectable score while Apple, Motorola and Lenovo flunked the test to finish bottom of the class.

Motorola: breaking promises to remove toxic chemicals from its phones. Enlarge Image

Motorola hangs up on toxic clean up promise

US mobile phone company Motorola has backtracked on a promise to remove toxic chemicals from its products. While competitors like Sony Ericsson and Nokia are living up to their commitments to remove toxic chemicals, Motorola is not answering the call to clean up.

Dell computer waste (e-waste) in a Chinese scrap yard. Enlarge Image

Dell promises greener computers but users want more

Dell has become the latest company to promise to remove the worst toxic chemicals from it products, closely following the move of its rival HP. Both companies have been pressured by us to make their products greener and help tackle the growing mountain of toxic e-waste.

Activists deliver electronic waste back to the offices of Hewlett Packard to demand the removal of toxic substances from HP products. Enlarge Image

HP rises to the toxic challenge

Electronics giant Hewlett Packard has risen to the challenge we set them and committed to a phase out plan for a range of hazardous chemicals in its products. Now we are at the consumer electronics industry's biggest annual event to ask "who's next?"

Girl on trampoline in her garden overlooked by a huge chemicals plant. The plant is part of an infamous area of large concentrations of chemical plants in Louisiana known as 'cancer alley' due to the high levels of cancer suffered by residents. Enlarge Image

Big brands clean up

More big brands have committed to remove toxic chemicals from their products in our campaign against toxic pollution. Electronics giant Motorola and health and body care companies L'Occitane, Melvitacosm and Alqvimia are the latest companies to drop the most toxic chemicals from their products.

A boy winces at the acrid smoke rising from the computer motherboards being melted over open fires in a electronics waste (e-waste) recycling yard in Delhi. Such open air burning of electronics parts to recover metals causes large exposure of workers and the environment to toxic pollution. Enlarge Image

LG takes up the toxic tech challenge

"Life's Good" might be the LG motto (LG is an electronics company) but life just got a whole lot better for the planet after LG announced that they are committing to eliminating toxic chemicals from their entire consumer electronics range.

Sony Ericsson phone - Sony Ericsson has recently committed to remove toxic chemicals from its entire product range. Market leaders such as Sony Ericsson show that substitution of toxics with safer alternatives is possible. Enlarge Image

Toxic Tech Victory

Sony Ericsson has announced that it will be phasing toxic chemicals out of its entire product range. The company listened to the thousands of participants in our online action demanding that electronics companies phase out toxic chemicals and substitute them with safer alternatives.

Samsung annouces phase out of hazardous chemicals. Enlarge Image

Samsung cleans up

Consumer power scored another victory recently with the announcement from electronics giant Samsung that it plans to phase out hazardous chemicals in its products. Seeing its brand-name products graded red - as containing hazardous chemicals - on the Greenpeace database, prompted the company to do the right thing on dangerous chemicals.

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