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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Casey Harrell,
US: 415 307 3382,
charrell@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace Greener Electronic Ranking Shows How Actions Speak Louder than Words for the Electronics Industry

Philips and HP introduce new transformative products, Toshiba and Microsoft fail to act on promises

AMSTERDAM

The latest edition of the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics (1)
shows significant separation between companies that are failing to keep
their environmental commitments and those that are making significant
gains in phasing out toxic chemicals, increasing energy efficiency, and
making it easier for consumers to recycle older products.

Greenpeace applauds Philips for releasing the first TV free of PVC and
brominated flame retardants (BFRs). The Econova TV puts Philips on track
to meet its commitment to phase out these hazardous substances by the
end the year, well ahead of other TV manufacturers.

"There is a growing gulf between companies that are consistently
innovating and leading by releasing greener products and companies that
just make big promises," said Greenpeace toxics campaigner Casey
Harrell. "By launching a PVC- and BFR-free TV, Philips has overcome the
technical hurdles to removing these toxic substances from this product
group - there is now no excuse for other TV manufacturers not to
follow."

New products free of PVC and BFRs (2) have been put on the shelves by
Acer, the Indian companies Wipro and HCL, and HP, which now has several
lines of notebooks, desktops and most recently a PVC-free printer. In
contrast, Toshiba, LGE, Samsung, Dell and Lenovo still have no whole PC
product lines free from these substances.

Toshiba is served a second penalty point this year for misleading its
customers about its commitments and a first penalty point is imposed on
Microsoft for backtracking on commitments to remove these toxic
substances. Several other companies continue to be weighed down by
penalty points for failing to meet their phase out commitments,
including LGE, Samsung, Dell and Lenovo (3).

Nokia and Sony Ericsson remain well ahead in 1st and 2nd place for
producing products free of the most hazardous substances, including
PVC/BFRs, antimony, beryllium, and phthlates. HP, Samsung and Lenovo are
the biggest climbers in this edition. Samsung climbs to 5th place from
13th, despite retaining a penalty points for backtracking on its
commitment to eliminate PVC and BFRs.

Apple takes the biggest drop, not because it has lost any points but
because several other companies have overtaken it. LGE and Toshiba, both
previously amongst the leaders, now take 14th and 16th place, showing
that in this fast moving and innovative sector that standing still is
just not good enough

Although scores on Waste and Recycling show the least progress overall,
Panasonic is rewarded for initiating voluntary take-back and recycling
of its TVs in India, the first programme of its kind for TVs outside the
OECD and another first for TVs. However, the industry as a whole is
failing to expand current take-back programmes to achieve global reach.

"Panasonic is stepping up to the challenge of taking responsibility for
its end-of-life TVs - but further company initiatives to take-back and
recycle e-waste outside the rich world are desperately needed;
Panasonic's programme could jump start this process," said Harrell.
"These encouraging developments on both greener products and e-waste are
welcome; its unfortunate that they also highlight the lack of ambition
of those that lag behind."

Greenpeace is a global, independent campaigning organization that uses peaceful protest and creative communication to expose global environmental problems and promote solutions that are essential to a green and peaceful future.

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