At CES it’s raining new products, but what about keeping all the old gadgets from getting tossed into the gutter?
Lenovo announces many new products at CES, but has a weak program to recycle old ones
Today begins the annual festival of colossal consumerism known as the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which takes over Las Vegas every January. This huge international trade show features miles of aisles of companies with high tech booths, touting their new gadgets, each one faster, sleeker, smaller, cooler, androidier, and touch-screenier than that really ancient one you bought a whole year ago.
Approximately 20,000 new products will be launched at this event. The program has over 300 information sessions. Yet the “Technology and the Environment” category has only two sessions. CES turned down the Story of Stuff creator Annie Leonard’s request to speak, despite a timely message with the newly released Story of Electronics film. Of the 35 categories for CEA’s “Innovations Design and Engineering” awards, only one was for “Eco-Design and Sustainable Technology,” given to a company making a solar cell phone charger.
While the companies compete for media attention for all the new gadgets they are flooding into the marketplace, they make no mention about what we should do with all the old gadgets they want us to replace.
What’s wrong with Lenovo’s Recycling Program?
One company piling on to the new product band(width) wagon this week is computer maker Lenovo, the Chinese company that bought the IBM Thinkpad division several years ago, and is now the number four computer maker in the world. Lenovo has just unveiled new Thinkpads, Ideapads and a new tablet computer called LePad at CES. But Lenovo earned a D Minus on the Electronics TakeBack Coalition’s Company Recycling Report Card, for having a weak takeback program, providing little transparency, and not using recycling vendors certified to (or in the process of getting certified to) high-bar recycling standards that forbid exporting toxic e-waste collected under their program to developing countries.
While Lenovo has begun to talk-the-talk on responsible recycling, we’d like to see them (and any other electronics company) show us proof that they are actually walking-the-walk.
We call on Lenovo to show its environmental leadership by:
>>Disclosing its recycling vendors. Many companies do this. Why not Lenovo? Transparency is vital on this issue.
>>Using recyclers certified to the rigorous e-Stewards standard, which is the only standard that does not allow e-waste dumping on developing countries. Lenovo says they have 11 vendors in the U.S. but it seems that most (nine) are certified to (or seeking certification to) the very weak R2 standard, which allows exporting e-waste to developing countries. In the absence of strong laws and regulations in this industry, companies should be using vendors certified to the strongest voluntary standards
>>Endorsing federal legislation to close the door on global e-waste dumping. HR 6252 will be reintroduced in the new Congress, and if Lenovo is serious about its policy of not exporting e-waste to developing countries, it should have no trouble endorsing the new bill.
Let Lenovo Hear From You
If you agree that Lenovo should be doing more, you can use our online action center to send an email to their CEO here. It takes just a minute.
An easy “green” New Year’s Recycling Resolution
iStockphoto
iStockphoto
Did the holidays bring you new gadgets? Here’s how to recycle your old ones.
Electronic gadgets were at the top of many holiday shopping lists again this year, with iPads and Kindles fueling a lot of the buying frenzy. The biggest sellers were e-readers, tablet computers, smart phones, HD TVs and video games consoles and accessories. The Consumer Electronics Association was predicting that the average consumer would spend $232 on electronics this holiday.
So what should you do with the old stuff – the items these shiny new gadgets replaced? Or the even older ones – the dead cell phones, PDAs, and iPods stashed in your dead gadget drawer, or the old printer or TV tucked away in the basement? It’s pretty easy to keep a recycling resolution, with the help of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition’s Guide To Recycling Your Electronics. Here are the basics, with a lot more information available on our web based Guide.
Don’t Trash Old Electronics
First, what not to do. The easiest (but worst) thing to do is to toss the old items in the trash. These gadgets contain toxic chemicals, which we don’t want seeping out of landfills and into groundwater, or getting emitted into our air from incinerators. Plus they take up a lot of room in overcrowded landfills. And many contain resources – especially metals – that can be recovered and reused. So while trashing electronics is still legal in many states, it’s not a good idea. (Check if it’s legal in your state – it might be time to contact your state legislators about tougher laws to keep e-waste out of the trash.)
Reuse
There are often good options for reusing your old electronics. If your old item still works and is pretty current, it can probably be reused. Old tube TVs are usually the exception here, but computers and phones will probably have some reuse value as whole products or parts. Many cities have local, non-profit reuse organizations, which will refurbish electronics for use in local underserved communities. You can usually find these by contacting your local county solid waste agency. If you don’t find one, consider the National Cristina Foundation, which matches donated computers to charities and agencies, or World Computer Exchange, which sends requested working items to educational institutions in developing countries.
Recycle
If reuse is not an option, then please take it to an electronics recycler. Please make sure your old product gets to a responsible recycler – one who will actually recycle it, and not ship it off to a developing nation, where old electronics are causing terrible health and environmental harm. The best way to do that is to work with a recycler who is part of the e-Stewards network. E-Stewards recyclers adhere to the highest standards in the industry, including a firm commitment not to export non-working or untested e-waste to developing nations.
If there is no e-Steward near you, then there are many takeback programs run by the manufacturers and retailers, most of which are free. See our website’s Guide to Recycling Your Electronics for information and links to all of these programs. Some of these programs have trade-in options, which will give you money back (or credit towards purchases) for certain items, especially cell phones and laptops. The Electronics TakeBack Coalition’s Guide to Recycling Your Electronics includes details on these trade-in options as well.
Holiday Shopping Guide for Finding Greener Electronics
iStockphoto
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday fast approaching, many consumers have electronics at the top of their shopping lists. This holiday season, the average American is expected to spend over $230 (more than a third of their gift budget) on electronic products, up about 5% from last year.
Increasingly, shoppers are asking about green electronics; they want to use their consumer spending to support companies doing the right thing to make their products more eco-friendly. We applaud you who seek to spend your green on green.
“Greenish”
But we hesitate to say there are truly “green” electronics at this point. This industry still has a long way to go (in finding safer chemicals, and using more recyclable materials and designs) before it can really claim to have “green” products. But still, it’s good to support the companies that are making efforts in the right direction, even if we are still at the baby-steps part of that long march towards green.
Luckily, there are some resources out there to help identify companies and products that are leading the way on key environmental issues, which you can find in our 2010 Holiday Shopping Guide For Finding Greener Electronics compiled by the Center for Environmental Health (CEH), a partner group in the Electronics TakeBack Coalition.
We wish we could tell you there was a single green label that would be a one-stop shop for finding truly greener gadgets. That was the idea behind the EPEAT label (currently available for business computers and monitors), but it’s simply too weak on key environmental criteria to be the only thing you look at, although we recommend EPEAT “Gold” rated products as one thing to consider. Instead, we have combined a few different resources, report cards, and other tools to make this as user-friendly as possible.
The shopping guide includes these resources, all in one handy printable reference:
- A side by side chart of the latest rankings from the Electronics TakeBack Coalition alongside the latest scores from Greenpeace, to give you a sense of what the top electronics companies are doing (and not doing) in the areas of chemicals, energy and e-waste takeback and recycling.
- A list of products “free” of brominated flame retardants and PVC, that are available in the United States. PVC and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) are hazardous substances that pose human health and environmental concerns and are being phased out by leading electronics manufacturers.
- NRDC’s Energy Efficient TV buying guide. NRDC has been a strong advocate for energy efficiency in electronics. Their new guide lists the 200 most energy efficient televisions available. NRDC also offers additional tips on how to minimize the energy use of TVs and some of the products connected to them (like video games and cable and satellite set top boxes).
The greenest gift of all
Given all the dated computers, cell phones, printers, VCRs, and other electronics that we all have piled up in our closets, we know that the greenest gadget is the one you don’t buy. Or at least the one you buy used. While this won’t satisfy those craving the latest gadgets, for many of the rest of us, buying refurbished electronics will work just fine. CEH’s website has resources for buying used electronics and for prolonging the life of your existing products.
But if you’re determined to buy electronic stuff this holiday season, don’t forget to bring along our guide when you go shopping. In addition to the Holiday Shopping Guide, CEH’s website offers concrete steps people can take at home , at work or at school to improve the sustainability of their electronics.
Judy Levin is the Pollution Prevention Coordinator at the Center for Environmental Health, a partner organization and Steering Committee Member of the Electronics TakeBack Coalition.
Get on Facebook and tell Lenovo: Put your money where your mouth is and really go green!
Today is America Recycles Day. Lenovo should do its part.
With our new release of the Story of Electronics, we’ve been pushing computer giant Lenovo to really go green and “make ‘em safe, make ‘em last, and take ‘em back.” Lenovo is saying they’re with us, but we want them to prove it.
Just last week, Lenovo posted on their corporate Facebook page that they are pulling in record profits and beating out their competitors like HP and Dell (who are doing much better on the responsible recycling front). So, we want Lenovo to put some of that money towards going green. Join us on Facebook and tell Lenovo to: Put your money where your mouth is and really go green!
Here’s what you can do:
- Get on Facebook
- “Like” Lenovo’s Fanpage http://www.facebook.com/lenovo
- Post something on their page – you can’t post on their wall, but can add a comment to their most recent comment. (Here are a few suggestions below, but be creative!)
- Put your money where your mouth is and really go green!
- Be a green leader and recycle it right!
- Walk the green walk, don’t just talk the green talk.
- Post the Story of Electronics on their page with the message: Make ‘em Safe, Make ‘em Last, Take ‘em Back
- It’s America Recycles Day. Lenovo, you should do your part.
Please post by 5pm pacific time, on Monday Nov 15 – in honor of America Recycles Day.
We want Lenovo to be a green leader and commit to:
- Work only with recyclers who are certified to the rigorous e-Stewards recycling standard;
- Make a real effort to get back their products in the U.S., by offering convenient, well publicized collection sites in all states;
- Provide full transparency on their recycling vendors, detailed vendor requirements, and volumes collected by state;
- Support federal legislation to stop global e-waste dumping from the U.S.; and
- Design out the toxics and design in closed loop recycling, so products collected can be recycled into new Lenovo products
Send a strong message to Lenovo and join us on Facebook to tell them: Put your money where your mouth is and really go green!
Thanks.
The Electronics TakeBack Coalition and the Story of Stuff Project
Lenovo Says They Agree with Us! We say Prove It!
From The Story of Stuff Project and the Electronics TakeBack Coalition
Inspired by The Story of Electronics, hundreds of people sent letters to Lenovo President and CEO Rory Read yesterday, telling the company to green its products and “Make ‘em Safe, Make ‘em Last, and Take ‘em Back.” Within hours, Read got back in touch to say he “could not agree with [us] more.”
We’re excited that Lenovo wants to do better, but with their weak track record on responsible recycling and failure to follow through on a commitment to get PVC and brominated flame retardants out of their products, we’re not ready to take them at their word just yet.
Lenovo—the world’s fourth largest personal computer maker—got a D minus on the Electronics TakeBack Coalition’s Recycling Report Card. They have a takeback program on paper, but in reality they’re not making the effort to take back their products unless state laws force them to. In most states, Lenovo simply offers a dysfunctional mailback program, and, let’s face it, almost nobody’s mailing back their electronics for recycling. In Texas, for example, they collected a paltry 458 lbs of e-waste in 2009. (By comparison, Dell collected 13 million lbs in Texas). We know Lenovo can do better.
In his letter, the Lenovo CEO said that his company is getting ready to release a new sustainability report that demonstrates their commitment to making clean, green, long-lasting products. If Read really agrees with us, this report should include Lenovo’s commitment to:
- Work only with recyclers who are certified to the rigorous e-Stewards recycling standard;
- Make a real effort to get back their products in the U.S., by offering convenient, well publicized collection sites in all states;
- Provide full transparency on their recycling vendors, detailed vendor requirements, and volumes collected by state;
- Support federal legislation to stop global e-waste dumping from the U.S.; and
- Design out the toxics and design in closed loop recycling, so products collected can be recycled into new Lenovo products.
So, go ahead and show us what you’re made of, Lenovo! Prove that you’re truly committed to going green.
Congress Steps Up on E-Waste Export Issue
Yesterday a bill was introduced in Congress that would make it illegal for U.S. “recyclers” to simply export our old electronic products to developing nations, instead of actually recycling them. It’s an atrocious but widespread practice – recyclers can make more money selling our old electronics to brokers who send them to China, India, Viet Nam, Ghana, Nigeria, and other poor countries across the globe. There, the toxics inside end up contaminating water and air, and exposing workers and communities to harmful poisons.
The bill doesn’t ban exports, but it promotes “clean” exports. Tested and working equipment and parts are not restricted and can be exported freely, as can products and parts where the toxics have been removed. But non-working or untested electronics containing toxics could not be sent to developing nations. This policy is consistent with what most of the rest of the developed countries around the world have already done via international treaties.
Passing this bill, introduced by Reps. Gene Green and Mike Thompson, is the most important step Congress can take on the e-waste problem. The States are already passing electronics recycling laws that are helping to divert e-waste out of our landfills and into the hands of recyclers. Twenty three states have passed e-waste laws so far and more are considering them. But the states can’t legally stop the exporting of e-waste collected in their programs. Constitutionally, only the federal government can act on international trade issues.
Until Congress does act, however, it’s very possible that the efforts that various states, communities, companies, and organizations are making to promote electronics “recycling” are resulting in increased exporting to poor communities around the globe. That’s certainly not the intent of those promoting electronics recycling, but it’s pretty difficult to tell the exporters from the true recyclers. We do have the e-Stewards network of responsible recyclers, who don’t export to developing nations. But if there is not an e-Steward nearby, then it’s almost impossible for consumers or even large companies to assess whether a recycler is exporting e-waste – that requires a comprehensive audit of the recycler’s downstream.
We get calls and emails all the time from concerned consumers, asking whether we know if a particular “recycler” is legit or if they are exporters. People don’t want to go to the effort to haul their products to a collection event or recycling depot, just to have it end up in China or Ghana.
We hope that Congress will act to take away this low-road option. They’d be removing a large source of the e-waste that gets sent to these poor communities, and they’d also be bringing back some recycling jobs to the U.S.
NYC E-Waste Lawsuit: Attack on Producer Responsibility
The electronics industry wants you to think they support the concept of “producer takeback” – where they take back and recycle our old products when we are ready to retire them. In fact, most of the computer companies and now some of the television companies offer “voluntary” takeback programs, to recycle our old products.
But they don’t see a lot of volume coming through these voluntary programs. The computer companies mostly use mailback programs, and frankly most people won’t mail back their old electronics (unless they get some money back for them). The TV companies must set up physical collection sites (since TVs are too big to mail back), but typically these takeback programs have only a few sites in each state.
States with strong takeback laws see real effort from the manufacturers
The exception to the weak takeback performance is in states with “strong” takeback laws. Those are states whose laws actually mandate a certain level of performance or convenience that actually translates to significant volumes of e-waste being collected. These include Minnesota, Washington and Oregon, and will include additional states which have passed strong laws, but are starting up their programs later in 2010 or in 2011.
New York City is another place that passed a strong law – but because it’s strong, the electronics industry has filed a lawsuit to stop the implementation of the law, which should have been implemented in July of 2009. The electronics companies are hiding behind their industry associations – CEA and ITIC – which filed the lawsuit arguing that it’s unconstitutional to pass takeback laws at the state or city level.
It’s not really about the New York law
This lawsuit isn’t really about New York City or even about e-waste. The suit is the industry’s attempt to stop the states (and in this case a large city) from requiring them to actually take back their old products – to actually make their takeback programs do what they say they should do. Nineteen states plus New York City have passed producer responsibility laws so far, and more states are poised to do so in 2010. States are also passing takeback laws establishing producer responsibility for other products which are toxic, and therefore challenging to manage safely in the waste stream, including various items containing mercury (thermostats, lamps, switches), paint, pharmaceuticals, medical sharps, and other products. Maine has passed takeback laws for five products, the most of any state.
What’s the beef? Much of the verbiage in the industry’s legal filings concerns a requirement in the regulations, not the law, that specifies what companies must to do meet the obligation under the law that their programs be convenient. In interpreting that requirement, the City’s crafted regulations requiring that manufacturers provide “direct collection” options for consumers for products 15 lbs or more. The idea is that because New York City is not like many other locations, where residents mostly have cars and can drive to collection events in large parking lots, that the takeback service needed to be as convenient as it was to purchase the products in the first place.
The industry doesn’t like this direct collection requirement, but the lawsuit doesn’t stop with challenging that specific regulation. The lawsuit makes many constitutional arguments that challenge the fundamental right of states to pass such takeback laws, that go far beyond this regulation on direct collection. State legislators, local government representatives, and NGOs who have fought hard to pass e-waste takeback laws over the years, clearly see this lawsuit as a full-on attack on producer responsibility, despite the fact that many of the companies paying for the lawsuit have clear statements on their websites and sustainability reports claiming support for the concept of producer takeback. In light of this lawsuit, we can only believe that these statements are simply greenwashing, by companies that want us to believe that they are doing the right thing.
What’s ironic is that the original New York City ordinance didn’t have any convenience requirement at all. The original law had performance measures – requiring the companies to meet a collection goal tied to the amount of electronics they are selling into the city. Because of pressure from the manufacturers opposing these goals, the Council changed the ordinance to add the convenience requirement. So it’s the companies’ own lobbying that brought about this situation in the first place.
The Court is scheduled to hear opening arguments regarding the injunction against implementing the program on Feb 10, 2010.
