Environmentally responsible hi-tech companies - and those that aren't!

Greenpeace has updated their "Green Electronics Guide", a list which Who knows, maybe a year from now the companies that are at the bottom of the list will change their ways and be at the topranks the major mobile and PC manufacturers on how well they take care of this planet we all share based upon the information they make available.  The results make interesting reading indeed.

At the top are Nokia and Dell, scoring a 7 out of 10.  Overall Nokia does quite well, although there is room for improvement when it comes to recycling, while Dell loses points for not having PCs that are PVC-free (polyvinyl chloride) or BFR-free (brominated flame retardant).  Both of these companies are committed to improving their score and further reducing their environmental impact.

Next comes Hewlett-Packard with a score of 5.7.  HP, like Dell, seems committed to recycling but needs to work much harder at eliminating nasty chemicals from the equipment they sell.

Scoring a 5.3 is Sony-Ericsson.  It's doing well when it comes to chemical management and having a phase-out policy for BFR, but it need to work harder on precautionary principles and how much is being recycled.

Samsung scores 5 out of 10.  It has done well phasing out nasty chemicals but still needs to pay more attention to take back and recycling.

The companies that could do a lot better are Sony, LGE, Panasonic , Toshiba and Fujitsu-Siemens, who score between 4,7 and 3 - Huge room for improvement there.

Now we come to the bottom of the list.  These are the companies that Greenpeace see as doing least when it comes to eliminating harmful chemicals and taking responsibility for discarded products.  Apple scores a miserable 2,7 out of 10, Acer scores an even more miserable 2.3, while Motorola only manages to score 1.7.  However, at the bottom of the list is Lenovo (who make IBM notebooks), which only manages to score a depressing 1.3.  These companies score badly in all areas and each has enormous room for improvment.  Each could dramatically improve their score by taking action in any one of the areas looked at by Greenpeace (a good place to start would be recycling, considering that globally between 22 and 55 million tons of electronic goods are junked a year - that's between 150 and 400 pounds of junk per person in the U.S.).

Feel outraged by companies that don't take their responsibility to the environment seriously?  Greenpeace has a form that you can use to tell Mr. Jobs of Apple and Mr. Zander of Motorola just what you think.  Who knows, maybe a year from now the companies that are at the bottom of the list will change their ways and be at the top.