Sony Ericsson Earns Top Spot in Green Ranking
Greenpeace recently released its "Guide to Greener Electronics," which ranks the 18 top manufacturers of personal computers, mobile phones, TVs, and games consoles according to their policies on toxic chemicals and recycling.
Sony Ericsson has taken over the top spot while Samsung and Sony have surged ahead to now occupy second and third positions. Market leaders Microsoft, Nintendo, Philips, and Sharp enter at the bottom of the ranking of environmental performance with Nintendo being the first company scoring zero out of a possible 10 points. Philips and Microsoft performed little better, scoring only 2 and 2.7, respectively.
Score of 7.7: Sony Ericsson takes top spot due to improved take-back reporting, new models are polyvinyl chloride (PVC)-free, but the company falls down on take-back practice. Samsung has big improvements, with more products free of the worst toxic chemicals. It loses points for incomplete take-back practice.
Score of 7.3: Sony has more products free of toxic PVC and improved reporting on recycling and take-back especially in the United States. Dell is unchanged since the last version of the guide. It still has no products on the market without the worst chemicals. Lenovo is unchanged since the last version of the guide, because it still has no products on the market without the worst chemicals.
Score of 7: Toshiba is much improved on toxic chemicals but still lobbies in the United States for regressive take-back policies. LGE is unchanged since the last version of the guide. It needs a better take-back program for products other than phones. Fujitsu-Siemens is unchanged. This company needs toxic elimination timelines, better take-back coverage, and a reporting program for amounts recycled.
Score of 6.7: Nokia fell hard. This company is strong on toxic chemicals but lost points for deficiencies in take-back practice in Thailand, Russia, and Argentina during Greenpeace testing. HP finally provided timelines for eliminating worst toxic chemicals, though not for all products; it needs to improve take-back coverage
Score of 6: Apple is slightly improved with new iMacs and some iPods reducing the use of toxic chemicals, but its take-back program still needs work.
Score of 5.7: Acer remains unchanged since the last version of the guide. The company needs better take-back coverage and a program for reporting the amounts recycled.
Score of 5: Panasonic is unchanged. The company needs better take-back coverage and a program for reporting the amounts recycled. Motorola fell because of its poor take-back practice in the Philippines, Thailand, and India revealed by Greenpeace testing. The company still has no timelines for eliminating the most harmful chemicals.
Score of 4.7: Sharp is new to the guide. It earned points on toxic chemicals elimination but has a poor take-back policy and practice.