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Greenpeace slams Apple Nintendo over eco-credentials

Greenpeace has released its latest Guide to Greener Electronics report, ranking Nintendo and Microsoft as some of the world’s least eco-friendly electronics companies.

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How each company stacks up in Greenpeace's eyes

The report, which has been expanded from previous versions to include TVs and games consoles, analyses the environmental credentials of 18 companies and awards each a score between one and ten, according to their impact on Mother Nature.

Nintendo, which came in last, is the first company ever to score 'nul points' in the survey. Microsoft, which came in third from bottom, scored a mere 2.7 points because Greenpeace claims it has a poor take-back policy and a long timeline for the elimination of toxic chemicals from its products.

Sony Ericsson, scoring 7.7 points, took first place, partly because its latest models contain no PVC. It wrenched the top spot from rival phone maker Nokia, which slipped down to ninth place with a score of 6.7 points. Greenpeace claims the Finnish phone giant uses toxic chemicals in its products and has deficiencies in its take-back practices in some countries, such as Russia.

HP, Apple, Acer and Panasonic fill out the bulk of the report’s middle ranking companies, with scores of 6.7, 6.0, 5.7 and 5.0, respectively.

Greenpeace praised Apple for its reduction of toxic chemicals in iMacs and iPods, but claims that its take-back programme “still needs more work”. The eco organisation also said that Acer and Panasonic both need to improve reporting on recycling levels.

A full copy of the report is available on Greenpeace’s website. ®

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