The Greenpeace Green Product Survey Report
"The survey findings suggest that electronic sector has done
well so far, but has miles to go before it is fully green," said
Abhishek Pratap, Greenpeace India Toxics Campaigner. "It is quite
pleasing to see that electronic sector has taken positive steps
toward increasing green features in their products over the past
year even though none of the products are truly and fully green
from all environmental criteria. The race for Green products is
still on."
"Green Electronics: the search continues" assesses the progress
made over the past year by consumer electronic companies on their
public commitments to green their products. Fifteen major
electronics brands (3) submitted 50 of their most environmentally
friendly new products - mobile and smart phones, televisions,
computer monitors, notebook and desktop computers, and game
consoles. Greenpeace assessed and scored each of these products
against a set of environmental criteria. (4)
Greenpeace found that fewer electronic products on the market
contain harmful PVC plastic and fewer hazardous chemicals are being
used in products. LED displays, which save energy and avoid the use
of mercury in backlights, are more commonplace. Manufacturers are
using larger quantities of post-consumer recycled plastic in TVs
and monitors and producers have established more comprehensive
voluntary take-back and recycling programmes. Most companies have
also adapted quickly to the new requirements of Energy Star, a well
recognised benchmark for energy efficiency.
The Lenovo L2440x wide computer monitor scored highest with 6.9
points (on a 10 point scale) and is far ahead of the competition in
the monitor category. Other product category leaders include the
Sharp LC-52GX5 television (5.92), the Samsung F268 mobile phone
(5.45), the Nokia 6210 Smart phone (5.2) the HP Elitebook 2530P
laptop (5.48) and the Lenovo ThinkCentre M58 Desktop (5.88).
"The scores are higher and closer together this year, suggesting
a more competitive race to green gadgets, but consumers are still
having to choose between gadgets that are green in one way but grey
in another," said Casey Harrell, Greenpeace International toxics
campaigner
Greenpeace also combined the top scores of each product category
to make a composite score for the industry. These 'best practice'
scores, ranging as high as 8.6, demonstrate that there is
environmental know-how available now to produce electronics that
are significantly greener than anything on the shelves today.
"The electronics industry is heading in the right direction. To
stay in the race, each company needs to put its foot on the
accelerator, applying any progress it has made across all of its
product lines and adopting each other's best practices. We'r
For further information, contact
Abhishek Pratap, Greenpeace Toxics Campaigner +91 98456 10749
Saumya Tripathy, Greenpeace Communications +91 93438 62212
Casey Harrell, Greenpeace International Toxics Campaigner, + 1 415 307 3382
Notes to Editor
(1) The Greenpeace report is available at: http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/green-electronics-survey-2
(2) Criteria questions focused on the following areas: toxic chemical phase out, energy efficiency, product lifespan and energy used in production, with additional points given for unique innovation.
(3) Companies that chose to participate in the survey were: Acer, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens, Hewlett Packard, Lenovo, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, RIM/Blackberry, Sharp, Samsung, Sony, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba. The companies that refused to take part in the survey were: Apple, Asus, Microsoft, Nintendo, Palm, Philips. Only Sony submitted game consoles for review.
(4) The previous survey, available at http://www.greenpeace.org/international/press/reports/searching-for-green-electronics revealed that products were far from green, with only a few scores barely reaching a total score of 5 out of 10. This year's scores were higher, but no products exceeded a score of 7 out of 10.