Apple rise and Sony fall in Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics

The fourth edition of the Greenpeace Guide to Greener Electronics is just out.

Nokia is in top position, scoring 8 out of 10, for eliminating the worst chemicals from many products. But even as the top ranking company it still has a way to go to ‘go green’ - if it reports on its recycling rate percentage this could help.

In the current edition, Dell and Lenovo are tied for second place (7.3 out of 10). Both have good (but not perfect in practice) ‘takeback’ policies for out-dated stuff. Both also lose points for still including some of the worst chemicals on the market in some of their products.

Sony Ericsson, with 7 out of 10, is still among the top due to its clear timeline to have products free of the worst chemicals by 2008.

Apple was the lowest ranked manufacturer in the last Greenpeace Guide but has made the biggest jump, thanks to the Green my Apple campaign. Apple’s current score is still only 5.3, if the iPhone is made environmentally this would increase the score.

Greenpeace is pleased that many corporations have risen to the green challenge, with CEOs openly vying for top green spot.The WEEE legislation will force improvement on takeback policies, but there’s more to it than just e-waste, for example in the continuing use of unnecessary chemicals. To shimmy them along you can challenge them here.

Sony (4 out of 10) and LGE (4.3 out of 10) particularly need that shimmy to reverse their downward spirals to the bottom spots.