Nokia is the latest company to slip in Greenpeace's rankings.

The environmental organization today released its latest edition of the "Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics", reporting that Nokia has fallen to third place as a result of "poor take-back practices" in India and Russia.

Nokia had been Greenpeace's top ranking electronics company in terms of environmental responsibility. Now besting Nokia are Samsung and Toshiba, tied for the top ranking spot, according to the Greenpeace guide.
 
"Most electronics brands are rising to the toxic chemical and e-waste challenge issued by the Greenpeace guide," said Iza Kruszewska, Greenpeace International toxics campaigner, in a statement.

"It is now time to raise the bar and challenge the industry to take responsibility for the entire lifecycle of their products- from production through manufacture and to the very end of their products' lives."

Greenpeace said that Samsung's consistency in its practices and policies kept the company ranking score stable, while Toshiba climbed from the sixth spot by improving its score on "individual producer responsibility," whereby each company takes responsibility for the electronic waste (e-waste) from its own-branded discarded products. (See full ranking below.)

Greenpeace also made special note of Motorola, which has climbed from 14th place to 12th place in the ranking on improvement in its take-back and recycling operations in the Philippines, Thailand, and India.

Greenpeace further noted that Apple continues its steady rise in the ranking due to new products like the MacBook Air with less toxic chemicals. Apple has received much criticism from Greenpeace in the last year over use of two types of hazardous substances (toxic brominated compounds, indicating the presence of brominated flame retardants, and hazardous polyvinyl chloride) used in its widely popular iPhone handset.

Philips, which ranked 17th in the guide, has also been a Greenpeace target, with the group recently pointing to the company as one of the industry's worst e-waste offenders.
 
Meanwhile, Nintendo, which came in last in the Greenpeace ranking, has improved its chemicals management policy, but has no public policy on toxics elimination or recycling, the group said, noting that all of the other 17 companies in the ranking do.

Greenpeace ranks electronics companies in the guide based on toxic chemicals use and e-waste regulations. In the future, Greenpeace said it plans to also rank brands against new energy criteria to encourage the industry to reduce its carbon footprint. Details on Greenpeace's ranking policies can be found here.

"To be truly green, the IT industry needs to commit to designing products that are free of toxic chemicals and are energy efficient, durable and recyclable while taking full responsibility for them globally, including when they become waste," said Rick Hind, legislative director of the Greenpeace toxics campaign in the US, in the statement.

Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics ranking

Nokia is the latest company to slip in Greenpeace's rankings.

The environmental organization today released its latest edition of the "Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics," reporting that Nokia has fallen to third place as a result of "poor take-back practices" in India and Russia.

Nokia had been Greenpeace's top ranking electronics company in terms of environmental responsibility. Now besting Nokia are Samsung and Toshiba, tied for the top ranking spot, according to the Greenpeace guide.
 
"Most electronics brands are rising to the toxic chemical and e-waste challenge issued by the Greenpeace guide," said Iza Kruszewska, Greenpeace International toxics campaigner, in a statement.

"It is now time to raise the bar and challenge the industry to take responsibility for the entire lifecycle of their products- from production through manufacture and to the very end of their products' lives."

Greenpeace said that Samsung's consistency in its practices and policies kept the company ranking score stable, while Toshiba climbed from the sixth spot by improving its score on "individual producer responsibility," whereby each company takes responsibility for the electronic waste (e-waste) from its own-branded discarded products. (See full ranking below.)

Greenpeace also made special note of Motorola, which has climbed from 14th place to 12th place in the ranking on improvement in its take-back and recycling operations in the Philippines, Thailand, and India.

Greenpeace further noted that Apple continues its steady rise in the ranking due to new products like the MacBook Air with less toxic chemicals. Apple has received much criticism from Greenpeace in the last year over use of two types of hazardous substances (toxic brominated compounds, indicating the presence of brominated flame retardants, and hazardous polyvinyl chloride) used in its widely popular iPhone handset.

Philips, which ranked 17th in the guide, has also been a Greenpeace target, with the group recently pointing to the company as one of the industry's worst e-waste offenders.
 
Meanwhile, Nintendo, which came in last in the Greenpeace ranking, has improved its chemicals management policy, but has no public policy on toxics elimination or recycling, the group said, noting that all of the other 17 companies in the ranking do.

Greenpeace ranks electronics companies in the guide based on toxic chemicals use and e-waste regulations. In the future, Greenpeace said it plans to also rank brands against new energy criteria to encourage the industry to reduce its carbon footprint. Details on Greenpeace's ranking policies can be found here.

"To be truly green, the IT industry needs to commit to designing products that are free of toxic chemicals and are energy efficient, durable and recyclable while taking full responsibility for them globally, including when they become waste," said Rick Hind, legislative director of the Greenpeace toxics campaign in the US, in the statement.

Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics ranking

Company, Rank, Score out of 10

Samsung,  Tied for 1st,  7.7
Toshiba,  Tied for 1st,  7.7
Nokia,  3rd  7.3,
Sony,  4th  7.3,
Dell,  5th  7.3,
Lenovo,  6th,  7.3
Sony Ericsson,  7th,  6.7
LG,  8th,  6.7
Apple,  9th,  6.7
Fujitsu-Siemens,  10th,  6.7
HP,  11th,  6.7
Motorola,  12th,  6.3
Acer,  13th,  5.7
Sharp,  14th,  5
Panasonic,  Tied for 15th,  4.7
Microsoft,  Tied for 15th,  4.7
Philips,  17th,  4.3
Nintendo,  18th,  0.3

Source: Greenpeace, March 2008

By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News - Electronic News