Manufacturers need to be greener with their products

Electronics companies are becoming greener but still have a long way to go, Greenpeace has said.

The environmental organisation found that fewer electronics products on the market contained harmful PVC plastic and hazardous chemicals than last year. LED displays, which save energy and avoid the use of mercury in backlights, were found to be far more common, and manufacturers were using larger quantities of recycled plastic in TVs and monitors.

Companies were also said to have established more comprehensive voluntary take-back and recycling programmes, and had adapted quickly to the new requirements of Energy Star, a government benchmark for energy efficiency.

In its Green Electronics: The Search Continues report, Casey Harrell, international toxics campaigner at Greenpeace, said: “We’re on the hunt for a truly green product that is free from toxic chemicals and excels in energy efficiency and durability. The race for the green winner is still on.”

The report which was announced at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas found that although the “industry had taken encouraging strides towards increasing the green features on some gadgets over the past year, none stood out in all environmental categories".

Acer, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens, Hewlett-Packard, Lenovo, LG, Motorola, Nokia, Panasonic, Sharp, Samsung, Sony, Sony Ericsson and Toshiba provided information on 50 of their most environmentally friendly new products.

This included mobile and smart phones, televisions, computer monitors, notebook and desktop computers, and games consoles.

Greenpeace assessed these against a list of environmental criteria, including toxic chemical phase out, energy efficiency, product lifespan and energy used in production.

The organisation also pointed out that even though computer manufacturers are generally good at providing in-use energy data and comparisons for their products, monitor and television producers had to make this a higher priority.

It also said that while some companies had sections on their website listing green products, these were still not prominent enough to promote green products as a major purchasing decision.

“Consumers are still having to choose between gadgets that are green in one way but grey in another,” said Harrell.

The companies that refused to take part in the survey were Apple, Asus, Microsoft, Nintendo, Palm and Philips.