Toxic Chemicals

Create a revolution in your wardrobe - part two

Posted by Louise Edge — 9 August 2011 at 2:58pm - Comments

In the second half of our tips on greening your wardrobe - to help you clean up your clothing inspired by our Detox campaign - we look at saying no to child labour, questioning distressed denim, avoiding greenwash, spring cleaning, speaking out and spreading the word.

Article tagged as: china, clothing, Detox, fair trade, pollution, textiles, toxic chemicals, water

The polluted secret behind jeans and bras

Posted by Louise Edge — 10 February 2011 at 5:28pm - Comments

Yesterday the Guardian featured a series of pictures showing the appalling impact that China’s growing textile industry is having on the Pearl River delta.

Article tagged as: china, clothing, pollution, slideshows, textiles, toxic chemicals

Greener TV gives Philips a boost in our latest electronics guide

Posted by jossc — 26 October 2010 at 10:36am - Comments

Philips have made progress in the latest version of our Guide to Greener Electronics - released today. The company's new Econova TV is the first on the market to be free of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs), putting it well ahead of other TV manufacurers.

The guide ranks the 18 top manufacturers of personal computers, mobile phones, TVs and games consoles according to their policies on toxic chemicals, recycling and the climate impacts of their operations. There's also a detailed reports on each company's performance.

So just how green are big names such as Nokia, Microsoft, Sony and HP?

See full guide on our international site to find out »

Article tagged as: computers, green electronics guide, toxic chemicals

Success! Philips make a recycling policy u-turn

Posted by jossc — 26 February 2009 at 3:27pm - Comments

An old Philips TV at a scrap yard in Ghana

An old Philips TV at a scrap yard in Ghana

Last week we broke the shocking story about what actually happens to our electronic waste; instead of being safely recycled in the UK or Europe, much of it is instead being exported as 'second-hand goods' to places like Nigeria, China and India. Once there it's either sold for scrap, illegally dumped, or broken apart for recycling by some of the poorest people in the country, with no safety measures to protect them from the dangerous toxic chemicals like mercury, cadmium and lead which the e-waste contains.

Article tagged as: africa, e-waste, nigeria, philips, successes, toxic chemicals, toxics, TVs

How your TV could end up in Nigeria to be illegally dumped

Posted by jamie — 18 February 2009 at 11:18am - Comments

Television are shipped from the EU to Nigeria to be sold, scrapped or illegally dumped

Television are shipped from the EU to Nigeria to be sold, scrapped or illegally dumped © Greenpeace/Buus

As you may have seen on Sky News or the cover of the Independent this morning, our researchers have been conducting a three-year investigation in what really happens to electronic waste. The results show that, instead of being recycled responsibly like it's supposed to be, e-waste is being disguised as second-hand goods and being shipped of to (in this case) Nigeria. There, it's sold, scrapped or illegally dumped.

Acting on a tip-off, we launched our operation in collaboration with Sky Television to see just where some electronic waste was ending up. We took an unfixable TV, fitted it with a tracking device and brought it to Hampshire County Council for recycling. Instead of being safely dismantled in the UK or Europe, like it should have been, the council’s 'recycling' company, BJ Electronics, passed it on as 'second-hand goods' and it was shipped off to Nigeria to be sold or scrapped and dumped.

Article tagged as: africa, e-waste, nigeria, sky tv, toxic chemicals, toxics, TVs

Game consoles: no consolation

Posted by jossc — 20 May 2008 at 12:45pm - Comments

Playing Dirty - none of the best selling games consoles come out clean

Nintendo's Wii. Sony's PlayStation 3 Elite. Microsoft's Xbox 360. They promise a whole new generation of high-definition gaming, but when it comes to the crunch, it's the same old story. As our search for greener electronics continues, it was time for the game consoles to go to our labs for scientific analysis – and all of them tested positive for various hazardous chemicals.

Our analysis, published in our new report, Playing Dirty, detected the use of hazardous chemicals and materials such aspolyvinyl chloride (PVC), phthalates, beryllium and bromine indicative of brominated flame retardants (BFRs).

More information on our international site »

Article tagged as: bfr, microsoft, nintendo, playstation, pthalates, PVC, sony, toxic chemicals, toxics, wii, x-box
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