Posted by jossc — 30 July 2009 at 10:12am
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When Hewlett Packhard staff arriving for work at the company's California HQ checked their phone messages yesterday morning, they found a recorded message from Star Trek's Captain James T Kirk waiting for them. Actor William Shatner urged them to question their boss, Mark Hurd, about the reasons why HP recently reneged on its promise to phase out dangerous toxic substances from its computers by 2009.
Posted by jossc — 1 July 2009 at 4:55pm
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We've given HP, Lenovo and Dell - the world's biggest PC makers - a penalty point in our updated Guide to Greener Electronics,
for backtracking on their commitments to eliminate PVC plastic and
brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from their products by the end of
2009.
Posted by jossc — 3 March 2009 at 3:54pm
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Lanterns carrying the image of Toru Suzuki at Japanese Embassy vigil in support of the Tokyo Two, Washington DC, Feb 17 2009
My very wonderful Greenpeace International colleague Elaine has just published the February edition of the month in pictures series, highlighting a range of Greenpeace actions around the world. February's top shots range from locations in Mexico, Nigeria and Russia and cover campaign issues including e-waste, the upcoming trial of the Tokyo Two, forest fires and, of course, climate change - all in a handy slideshow format.
For more images and slideshows from our campaigns around the world, check out the photos, audio and videos section of our international website.
Posted by jossc — 26 February 2009 at 3:27pm
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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.
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.
Posted by jossc — 7 January 2009 at 3:40pm
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Apple's detox promise: close but not quite there yet
Mac fans in our office (and there are more than a few) were getting excited yesterday - we were expecting an announcement from MacWorld 2009 in San Francisco, confirming that Apple would as promised be removing all toxic PVC plastic and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from its entire new product range.
Confidence was high that this was going to happen because we've had the word from the man himself - Apple CEO Steve Jobs - from as far back as May 2007 that toxic PVC and BFRs in Mac computers would be history by the end of 2008. His enthusiam for the subject, of course, initially stemmed from the success of our Green my Apple campaign, which generated huge support and discussion from Mac addicts worldwide.
Posted by jossc — 24 November 2008 at 4:50pm
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The latest edition of our Guide to Greener Electronics has revealed that very few firms are showing true climate leadership. Despite many green claims, major companies like Dell, Microsoft, Lenovo, LG, Samsung and Apple are failing to support the necessary levels of global cuts in emissions and make the absolute cuts in their own emissions that are required to tackle climate change.
Posted by jossc — 16 September 2008 at 1:35pm
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Company scores plummeted in the previous edition of Greenpeace's Guide to Greener Electronics, when new criteria on climate change were introduced. However, leading brands like Nokia and Samsung are now making significant progress in greening their electronics products, with improved environmental policies responding not only to these new energy criteria, but also to the more stringent chemical and e-waste criteria.
