Major retailers Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and Best Buy (NYSE: BBY) have joined with the Sustainability Consortium and electronics makers to establish a system to help people identify "green" electronics.
The Sustainability Consortium, which is co-administered by Arizona State University and the University of Arkansas, said the system will include social and environmental considerations.
Others involved in the initiative include Dell (Nasdaq: DELL), HP (NYSE: HPQ), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and Toshiba (TOSBF.PK).
"Customers tell us they want to purchase electronics that have a minimal impact on our planet. This is an effort to help them do that using a common methodology that manufacturers across the industry participate in," said Scott O’Connell, environmental strategist, Dell. "This is about making it easy for customers to determine what’s ‘green’ and what’s not, and we’d like to have the whole industry involved."
In developing the criteria, the consortium says it will consider the impacts electronics have on those who build, use and dispose of them, as well as their environmental impacts throughout their lifecycle. It also is investigating how to collaborate with standards and programs with which consumers are already familiar, such as EPEAT® (the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool) and ENERGY STAR®, and standards set forth by the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition.
"Developing additional detailed information on the lifecycle impacts of electronics will not only help our customers make educated buying decisions, but assist companies to make clear, pointed product sustainability claims," said Engelina Jaspers, vice president of environmental sustainability, HP. "Reaching uniformity in communicating sustainability claims will be a decision made in the name of consistency, transparency, and simplicity and will benefit all involved."
The consortium will release initial results of its work in 3Q10.
"Our initial work is focused on criteria for laptops, desktops and monitors," said Dr. Kevin Dooley of the Sustainability Consortium and a professor in the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. "We plan to expand the project to a broader set of electronic goods later in the year, when additional manufacturers and suppliers will be recruited to the project."
"Best Buy recognizes that we have an obligation to provide customers with products and solutions that help them move toward an increasingly sustainable future," said Mary Capozzi, senior director of corporate responsibility, Best Buy. "As we make it easier for customers to choose more sustainable products, demand for them will increase and provide manufacturers with an incentive to make products that are more environmentally and socially responsible."
In October 2009, Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Sony Ericsson were among seven companies praised by the environmental organizations, ChemSec and Clean Production Action, for best practices.
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