Samsung, while maintaining its score from the previous edition, has now moved from 2nd position to joint 1st. The company scores top marks on most of the chemicals criteria and is now bringing products on the market that are free from the worst chemicals; all new models of LCD panels are now free from polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastic and all new models of mobile phones have circuit boards that are largely free from brominated flame retardants (BFRs), together with the housing and peripherals.

Samsung has also improved its reporting on the recycling of obsolete products and supplies good information to consumers on what to do with discarded products – at least for those products for which Samsung offers a take-back service. On the down side, it loses points for providing voluntary take-back of electronic waste in only a few countries and for only some product groups.

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