This guide to greener electronics is published by Greenpeace. The most recognized companies are rated according to three issues: eliminating hazardous substances, takeback programs and recycling their products responsibly once they become obsolete, and reducing the climate impacts of their operations and products. The chart has been updated regularly since August 2006 where Nokia and Dell were the leaders and today Sony seams to be leading the way.
Posts Tagged ‘company’
I have mentioned Terracycle before on this blog where I recognized their truly innovative business model for making high quality organic lawn and garden products out of “waste” organic worm poop and discarded soda bottles. From it’s inception in 2001, the company has done an amazing job with it’s brand, and has expanded it’s product line beyond fertilizers to cleaning products and others including the Firelog made from a very problematic bio-diesel byproduct, glycerin. Now they have partnered up with one of the worlds largest food and beverage companies in their first effort to up cycle Kraft products packaging into a new category of eco-friendly consumer products.
What a traditional capitalistic enterprise would consider a limitation, Terracycle has turned into an advantage. There aren’t many marketing or development teams that would embrace the challenge of creating products completely out of garbage. Terracycle is thriving by doing exactly that, turning waste into an asset, their business model is based on trash, no pun intended. Their whole product development process is based on using waste as the raw material in every aspect including the packaging. Terracycle’s model is one of the most inspiring working examples of eco-capitalism, by taking material that is generally considered an industrial and environmental liability and turning it into an asset.
The latest from Greenpeace is this great photo-book addressed to Steve Job’s himself. The images in the book are a compilation from artist and students from around the world all with one wish in common, a greener Apple…
This past year, Greenpeace has been rigorously criticizing Apple for their lack of leadership in the green consumer electronic space with a Webby award winning parody Apple website that has gotten a lot of attention. The message from Apple customers and fans is clear, it’s not enough for the company to be a leader in design, it must also be equally innovative when it comes to the environmental footprint of their products and services. Nine months after the parody site was launched, Steve Jobs personally published a letter linked in the front page of the actual Apple site disclosing their competitive past in the area of responsible environmental practices and declaring an upgrade and change of policy with regards to the reduction of environmental impact in their products going forward.