PC makers under fire from Greenpeace

PC manufacturers have been criticised by Greenpeace for breaking their promises to reduce hazardous materials in their products.

“There are no excuses for backtracking, and no reason for these companies not to have PCs free of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs),” Greenpeace said in its report.

The attack came as the environmental organisation launched its quarterly Guide to Greener Electronics, which judges PC manufacturers on their recycling efforts, power consumption and materials used in their products.

HP was singled out for postponing its 2007 commitment to phase out PVC and BFRs from its computer products (excluding its server and printer lines) from 2009 to 2011. It was also rapped for failing to put any PVC and BFC products on the market.

Dell and Lenovo also came under fire for failing to significantly reduce the amounts of toxic chemicals including PVC and BFRs from their products.

Dell was also criticised for completely dropping its plans to eliminate PVC plastic and BFRs from its products by the end of 2009.

Dell said it had dropped plans because there were "no viable alternatives for many of the components used in our products that include these chemicals."

However this has not appeased Greenpeace: “These substances are harmful throughout the entire lifecycle of a product; phase-out reduces pollution during the production and disposal of electronics and makes products capable of being recycled in a responsible manner,” it said.

“It's technically feasible, and consumers want it too, but above all the electronics industry needs to clean up urgently as a matter of principle.”

However, not all companies were in Greenpeace’s bad books. Apple was praised for creating its new computers, virtually free of PVC and completely BFR free.

Nokia remained top of the list for its voluntary take-back programme, which spans 84 countries, and for providing almost 5,000 collection points for end-of-life mobile phones.

Acer and Toshiba were also praised for ensuring their new products were " virtually free" of PVC plastic and BFRs.