We've been pressuring the consumer electronics company Philips to improve its regressive position on recycling recently. Yesterday they got back to us with a few tiny improvements.
Philips stands out as the only major company that says that recycling is the responsibility of the public and governments. Philips gets zero on all e-waste criteria in our Guide to Greener Electronics and gets a penalty point on top of that for double standards. Philips current position is what has helped create the huge volumes of toxic e-waste dumped in developing countries.
Clearly the electronics companies need to change. Some like Dell are taking action by launching free global takeback schemes to encourage recycling. Until now Philips has not only been sticking to its regressive policy while competitors change but also been lobbying in the US and Europe to ensure it does not have to take any individual responsibility for the products they sell at the end of life.
After our last action at the Philips HQ in Amsterdam they promised us to improve their policy. Now they have responded.
In short they are launching some pilot recycling schemes in India and early 2009 in Brazil and Argentina. This is progress but there is no commitment to expand the pilot schemes nationwide and is far behind global takeback schemes already operated by companies like Dell.
Philips will also improve the information on recycling for customers. This only makes sense in countries where there are collection points. However extra info on their website cannot hide the fact that Philips position remains fundamentally unchanged. It still refuses to accept global responsibility for its old products and continues to lobby against progressive recycling laws.
Motorola, Dell, HP, Sony, Samsung and Nokia are a few of the big brands all support the principle of Individual Producer Responsibility. They accept that they have responsibility for their old products, after all it's their marketing that encourages us to always buy the latest shiny new gadget.
The response is step in the right direction for Philips but it's got a long way to go before it is really walking the green walk. We'll be keeping the pressure on.
Read the full response from Greenpeace to Philips.