Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Philips) is failing to take responsibility for the take-back of its used products. Inadequate recycling policies are leading to e-waste dumping in the developing world, harming human health and polluting the environment.

Three Greenpeace activists unfurled a banner demanding "Philips: Simply take-back & recycle" after scaling the Okura Hotel conference centre in Amsterdam today, where Philips is holding its annual general meeting.

Other electronics producers, like Sony, Toshiba, Dell and Lenovo do take responsibility for their own-branded obsolete products and are setting up voluntary take-back systems for their products, including TVs. Philips stands out by publicly stating that recycling is a shared financial responsibility for the customer, government and the producer. According to Philips consumers should pay for recycling by a visible fee.

The company's failure to take full responsibility for its e-waste resulted in its low ranking in Greenpeace 's 'Guide to Greener Electronics', scoring below the average of 5/10 points and ranking second from the bottom.

"Philips needs to take financial responsibility for its own end-of-life products and not put the burden on consumers, government or other producers," said Martin Hojsik, Greenpeace International toxics campaigner.

Greenpeace is calling on electronics companies to take financial responsibility for their own product waste. Making electronics producers pay for the recycling of their products creates a financial incentive for them to stop using toxic materials and make electronic goods more recyclable.

"It is outrageous that a leading Dutch company is failing to take full responsibility for its products globally when its Asian and American competitors already have," added Kim Schoppink, Greenpeace Netherlands toxics campaigner. "Philips needs to follow its own slogan and act with 'sense and simplicity' by taking responsibility for its own e-waste and provide take-back and recycling services wherever its products are sold."

In a recent study of the world's e-waste flows, Greenpeace International showed that most e-waste is unaccounted for; there is no tracking of its toxic trajectory or adequate control over how it is disposed of. This includes up to 75 per cent in the European Union and 80 per cent in the United States. This so-called 'hidden flow' fuels the exports of e-waste to China, India and other countries in the developing world, creating mountains of e-waste which is hazardous to human health and the environment.

Greenpeace

The fate of large quantities of electronic waste is unknown, according to a Greenpeace report Toxic Tech: Not in Our Backyard, published today. While some electronic waste may be accounted for by storage in attics or garages, much may be disposed of with mixed waste in landfills and incinerators or exported - often illegally - for dumping in Africa or for rudimentary recycling in Asia, where it has a high toll on health, safety and the environment.
Amsterdam, 21 February 2008 – The fate of large quantities of electronic waste is unknown, according to a Greenpeace report Toxic Tech: Not in Our Backyard, published today. While some electronic waste may be accounted for by storage in attics or garages, much may be disposed of with mixed waste in landfills and incinerators or exported - often illegally - for dumping in Africa or for rudimentary recycling in Asia, where it has a high toll on health, safety and the environment.

Even in regions such as the EU that are subject to tighter regulation, there is no precise information on what happens to as much as 75% of e-waste generated. In the US, this figure could be as high as 80% or more, since the amount of e-waste which is reported for recovery includes some of the e-waste that is exported to developing countries.

In newly industrialised countries it is almost impossible to estimate the amount of e-waste escaping any form of treatment or management, although in India, it is estimated that around 99% of domestic and imported e-waste, 143,000 tonnes per year, ends up in the informal recycling sector or is simply dumped.

“It is the scrap yard workers in Asia who are bearing the toxic burden of e-waste. They are exposed to a cocktail of toxic chemicals when the products are broken apart, polluting the water, air and soil of not only the scrap yards but the surrounding neighbourhood,” said Martin Hojsik, Greenpeace International toxics campaigner. “The mountain of obsolete electronic products is expanding at a huge rate as our consumption of electronic devices continues to grow rapidly1.”

Figures provided by four PC manufacturers who have already developed take-back and recycling activities suggest that only around 10% of own-branded end-of-life products were recycled. The figures for mobile phones were even lower, with only 2-3% being recycled. This means that, even for those companies reporting their own-brands, the hidden flow of e-waste branded products currently amounts to an average of 91% of past sales.

“The reality is that we cannot say with any certainty what happens to e-waste once it has escaped responsible recycling. This is why manufacturers of electronic goods need to increase their efforts to collect and responsibly treat e-waste, introduce voluntary take-back schemes and remove hazardous substances from their products so they can be more safely and easily recycled,” added Hojsik. “Only in this way can we ensure that the dangerous tide of toxic e-waste is stemmed, and that the hidden flow of e-waste doesn’t become a problem in anybody’s backyard.”

Greenpeace

The Sony Vaio TZ11 notebook, the Sony Ericsson T650i mobile phone and the Sony Ericsson P1i PDA come out on top in Greenpeace's "Searching for Greener Electronics" survey, released today at CeBIT. But, the race for a green electronic product has not been won yet, each of these products scored just over half of the possible 100 points available to win.

Fourteen major electronics brands agreed to provide information for the survey, submitting information on their most environmentally friendly products - desktops, notebooks, mobile phones and PDAs (personal digital assistants). Thirty seven products were awarded points against green design criteria including: the substitution of hazardous chemical substances, energy efficiency and 'recyclability'.

The survey demonstrates the different steps being taken by manufacturers to improve the environmental performance of their products. Several products showcase toxic-free innovations going beyond current regulations such as the EU's Restriction on Hazardous Substances directive. Others show clear efforts to improve on energy efficiency, recyclability or upgradeability.

"Since undertaking the survey we have already witnessed the arrival of greener products in the market, such as the Apple's new laptop, the MacBook Air, and Nokia's new phone, the Evolve" said Yannick Vicaire Greenpeace International Toxics Campaigner. "Manufacturers still have a long way to go, but more and more are now taking the environmental impacts of their products seriously."

Greenpeace is challenging electronics manufacturers to take responsibility for the entire lifecycle of their products - from production, through manufacture and to the very end of their products' lives - and to clean up their products by eliminating hazardous substances and replacing harmful ingredients through safer alternatives or design changes while producing energy efficient products.

"Manufacturers need to embrace a truly comprehensive approach. Consumers should not have to choose between a toxic free product or an, energy-efficient one. They should not need to ask if being recyclable is better than being durable. When a product offers all those standards and is marketed with consumer-friendly services expanding the lifespan as much as possible, then we can say there is a true green product on the market.

"The IT industry is capable of making all of CeBIT a Green Village, the question is how soon." Concluded Yannick Vicaire.


Greenpeace

Anyone who lives in Europe, has ever been there, or even dreamed of visiting knows the incredible variety, striking characteristics and history driven culture that exists on this continent. This website provides a collection of photographs which are free for public use. All images on this site are royalty free and have been generously uploaded by our users.

By: Philip Nicosia

Apple’s iPhone is proving to be a tough sell to the uber sophisticated mobile tastes of the European market. Dubbed as the US’ must have gadget of the year, the iPhone has so far failed to impress Europe and sales tell the tales.

The European mobile market is used to having the latest cutting edge features on mobile phones. It even runs on a more advanced 3G platform which is unfortunately limited in the US. Most of the mobile phones that come out in Europe often never make it to the richer mobile market in the US simply because of the lag in the technology behind US mobiles.

While the US based iPhone is widely believed to be high-end mobile technology, in Europe that seems to be an altogether different story. The European mobile market has proved to be more competitive, judging from the abundance of high end mobile phones available, most of which have never been heard of before in the US. Satellite navigation? WiFi? 3G? Sounds like the newest release from an American personal computer, but not on a mobile phone.

In a place where most mobile phones come fully equipped with the latest music, camera and high speed internet connectivity, the only thing that the iPhone seems to be touting is its pioneering interface userability. Touchscreen is the new face of the future it seems.

No 3G for the iPhone as of yet, it utilizes the same connectivity technology as in the States, the slower EDGE tech. The current mobile powers that be in Europe promise to accommodate a larger EDGE base access for the iPhone users, although by this time next year, iPhone itself may be relaunched with the 3G technology.

Still, the sales are far from bleak. Considering it gained a following in a country where handsets are given free on short lock in contract periods if not paid-as-you-go, the iPhone may have just been given the benefit of the doubt.

But with a unit cost of $557 on top of the 18 monthly contract costs with an exclusive O2 carrier deal, the European market seems to be cringing at the sacrilege, but willing to dive in anyway. Despite its limitations on features, the iPhone’s single selling point seems to be the touch sensitivity interface which many have been willing to pay the hefty price for.

Apple is not putting the iPhone up on the pay-as-you-go market which the Europeans are used to. If activation of the purchased unit through cleared credit checks fails, then the purchaser has only one option, which is to return the iPhone with all package contents for a full refund.

Article Source: http://www.myarticlemall.com

The electronic programme guide, TV-Browser, announced their intention to remove 16 private tv-channels on January 1st, 2008. These include the German channels ProSieben, RTL Television and Sat.1.

According to a press release by the TV-Browser team, the collecting society VG Media plans to collect a usage fee for channel-program-data in EPGs beginning next year. Users will be charged between 0.02 and 0.04 € cents per page-view with a minimum fixed fee of at least 2000€.

The Open-Source-project can not and does not wish to pay this fee; developers are considering showing certain programme highlights from the channels in question.

A petition has been started to convince VG Media to abandon this charge fee.

Wikinews

Greenpeace wants PlayStation, Xbox and Wii gamers to lay down the law to Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo and convince the electronics giants to catch up with the trend sweeping through the electronics industry by eliminating hazardous chemicals from their game consoles.

The games consoles industry grew almost 15 per cent in 2006, shipped 62.7 million units and is a US$ 30 billion a year industry. Despite its products including components common to PCs, in which levels of hazardous chemicals are being reduced, game console manufacturers have so far failed to achieve any progress in reducing the toxic burden of their products.

"Game consoles manufacturers are lagging way behind the makers of mobile phones and PCs who have been reducing the toxic load of their products over the past year," said Zeina Al Hajj, Greenpeace International toxics campaigner. "Game consoles contain many of the same components as PCs so manufacturers can do a lot more," she continued.

In its first foray into the world of 'machinima', Greenpeace is today launching its 'Clash of the Consoles: Battle for the Future' video, aimed at gamers. A 90 second video has the iconic games console characters, Microsoft's 'Master Chief', Nintendo's 'Mario' and Sony's 'Kratos' compete for the prize of a 'greener' games console. It ends with the message, "Jump in… Tell your game console company Wii would like to live and play in a toxic free world" - combining slogans of the three manufacturers.

Gamers can compare how each console measures up on toxics, recycling and energy efficiency and show support for their favourite console to go green.

The initiative is part of Greenpeace's campaign to persuade the entire electronics sector to go beyond current legislation and eliminate hazardous chemicals across the board.

Heading Greenpeace's list are brominated fire retardants and PVC, the use of which can lead to hazardous chemicals building up in the environment and in human and animal tissue. Workers in production facilities as well as recyclers in scrap yards may be most at risk. This includes Chinese and Indian children involved in dismantling by hand discarded electronic goods from richer nations.

"Surely gamers don't want people their own age in other countries to suffer for their pleasure," said Al Hajj. "Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are currently undermining their own reputations among consumers," she added.

Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft dominate the game consoles market with respective sales shares of 42, 40 and 18 per cent.

Greenpeace is confident that the manufacturers can cut down on use of hazardous chemicals without consumers feeling the pinch. Sony, for instance, boasts of having saved over Euro 400,000 by carefully managing and optimising its takeback programmes, according to a study in the Journal of Industrial Ecology.

Greenpeace

by CELESTE YATES

There is another style of car coming out in the alternative car market. It has been reported not only to be an electric car, but will only have three wheels. The car will tilt and slide around corners like a motorcycle. The company creating the design, Venture Vehicles, has said they aim to market the vehicle for 2009.

The steering of the car is the most important aspect, as the engineers had to combine the concept of a car with a motorbike. Carver, based in Holland, invented the design for the steering technology.

It has been reported that the steering will cost $20,000 for a hybrid version or $25,000 for a full electric version. The vehicle will hold two passengers and have an optional luggage container that straps onto the roof. The car will be able to turn into a convertible with the easy removal of the roof.

The three-wheeled car will be named Venture One. It will be ideal for high traffic areas and close knit cities where space is a problem. Venture one is only 40 inches wide, and is shorter than the average car, so parking problems will be a thing of the past. Two Venture Ones will be able to fit into one parking space. However passengers don’t sit next to one another, but more in a motorbike style of one behind the other.

For the hybrid, which takes petrol, the gas mileage is a low 120 miles per gallon. The electric version will go an easy 120 miles before needing a charge. Although it is created for urban living, the car is able to keep its pace on the freeway as well, going from zero to 60 in five seconds.

The company is trying to capitalise on the green car market and is working with battery maker A123 system on the design. They are also involved in loading a variety of safety features, to ensure the vehicle still has some of the safety and security that a car offers.

Although the car is able to tilt 25 degrees, it’s almost impossible to tip over, so there is no need for passengers to worry about falling, as one would do in a motorbike. The car looks like a tornado with its aerodynamic shape and sleek feel, however this might just be the next bold advancement in car evolution. The combination of motorbikes and cars into one compact machine has resulted into a possible green future prospect of car evolution.
Celeste writes for Emerging Technologies News a site dedicated to all new technical news.

Amazines.com