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Electronic Equipment and Product Stewardship

Green Purchasing Rating System for Computers and Peripherals

This report summarizes existing eco-label and certification systems for computers and peripherals. The report attempts to determine if any of the labels are available on products for sale in the United States and whether any incorporate life-cycle assessment approaches. Interested purchasers can ask their suppliers to provide certified products or equivalents and can check with the labeling and certification entities for additional details and, in some cases, lists of certified products.

Rating Systems in the U.S.

EPEAT
EPEAT, the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, was introduced in July, 2006. EPEAT is a procurement tool to help institutional purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environmental attributes. EPEAT is a project funded through a grant from the EPA and is managed by the Green Electronics Council (GEC). EPEAT evaluates electronic products according to three tiers of environmental performance � Bronze, Silver and Gold.

To qualify for registration as an EPEAT product, the product must conform to all the required criteria. Manufacturers may pick and choose among the optional criteria to boost their EPEAT �rating� to achieve a higher level.

Criteria include:

Reduction/elimination of environmentally sensitive materials
Materials selection
Design for end of life
Product longevity/life cycle extension
Energy conservation
End of life management
Corporate performance
Packaging.

A presentation from August 2006 on EPEAT is available in either PDF (779 K) or PowerPoint (7.4 MB) format. Visit the EPEAT website for a list of products that have qualified under EPEAT's rating system.

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International Labels or Certification Programs Applicable to Products for Sale in the U.S.

Greenpeace

2007 Guide to Greener Electronics (pdf)
Greenpeace ranks mobile phone, game console, TV and PC manufacturers on their global policies and practices on eliminating harmful chemicals from their products and on taking responsibility for their products once they are discarded by consumers. Learn more about toxic electronics from Greenpeace.

Scientific Certification Systems
SCS certifies selected "Environmentally Preferable Products, Services, and Technologies." It applies to many products besides electronics. For any product, service or technology, the SCS determination of environmental preferability starts by assessing its environmental impacts at each life-cycle stage, and SCS uses a combination of techniques to complete this assessment.

These techniques include life-cycle impact assessment, supplemented by information from other scientific studies such as Environmental Impact Assessment, Risk Assessment, and Environmental Resource-based studies, and knowledge about "best available" technologies and practices in a given industry.

Examples of attributes that have been certified for various products include:

Recycled content
Recovered content
Salvaged wood from urban sources
Biodegradability
No Ozone depleting chemicals
No VOCs/Low VOCs
No added formaldehyde emissions
Organic ingredients
Poison-free/alternatives to poisons
Water efficient.

Only one attribute, ozone-depleting chemicals, has been applied to electronics so far. Currently, about 24 electronics products have been certified as containing no ozone-depleting chemicals. Of these only a few are monitors, printed circuit boards, and a few computer units of Taiwanese manufacture.

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European Computer Manufacturers Association
The European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA) is an international industry association founded in 1961 and dedicated to the standardization of information and communication systems.

ECMA members include major computer software and hardware manufacturers. The US actively participates in ECMA. ECMA's environmental efforts reside primarily with Technical Committee 38, Product-Related Environmental Attributes. The scope of TC 38 is, according to their web site, "To identify and describe the environmental attributes related to Information and Communication Technology and Consumer Electronics products during their entire life cycle, from conception to end-of-life treatment."

ECMA publications include the 2004 Technical Report TR/70, Product-Related Environmental Attributes which was harmonized with the IT-ECO declaration into the 2006 Standard ECMA-370: The Eco Declaration (TED). TED includes two voluntary declarations: one on the company environmental profile and one on the product environmental attributes, which incorporate the company criteria such as recycling system participation and environmental policy systems and the following environmental product attributes:

hazardous substances
batteries
safety and EMC
consumable materials
packaging materials
treatment information
environmental conscious design (such as disassembly, recycling, product lifetime)
power consumption
emissions
ergonomics
documentation.

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TCO Development
The Swedish Confederation of Professional Employees (TCO) is an environmental labeling scheme and authority for TCO'99, TCO'03 Displays, and TCO'05 Desktops Labels. The TCO website contains a database of TCO-labeled products. The TCO label addresses dispersal of environmentally hazardous substances from manufacturing and recycling processes, ergonomics, and emissions (radiation and energy use and noise) for computers, monitors, and printers.

TCO has about 50% market penetration world wide, 100% in northern Europe, and about 35% in US. According to a US representative for TCO, the program is strongest for computer monitors. At present too few computers and printers qualify in the US to be a useful tool. All qualifying products tend to be "high end" products.

TCO has looked at life cycle analysis, but their main focus has been on workplace safety. They seek to work and harmonize with other standards bodies/organizations (such as ISO, EnergyStar) on other environmental aspects, such as energy and life cycle. Search for TCO labeled products.

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Canadian Labels or Certification Programs

EcoLogo
Established in 1988, Canada's Environmental Choice Eco-Logo program helps consumers identify products and services that are less harmful to the environment. A product or service may be certified because it is made or offered in a way that improves energy efficiency, reduces hazardous by-products, uses recycled materials or because the product itself can be reused. Guidelines are developed in consultation with industry, environmental groups, universities and independent technical and scientific advisors.

Several printer manufacturers have received certification including Canon Canada Inc., Hewlett Packard, Kyocera Mita Canada, Ltd., Lexmark Canada Inc., Ricoh Canada Inc., Sharp Electronics of Canada Ltd, and Xerox Canada Ltd. Neither computers nor monitors have received certification. Search for EcoLogo certified products.

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European Labels or Certification Programs

Blue Angel
The world's first eco-labeling program, Blue Angel, was created in 1977 to promote environmentally sound products, relative to others in the same group categories. This eco-label relies on information and voluntary cooperation, as well as the motivation and the willingness of each individual to make a contribution towards environmental protection. The Basic Criteria apply to components of desktop computers, including workstations consisting of controller (console), keyboard and monitor.

Germany's Blue Angel certification for computers is primarily concerned with waste avoidance and reuse potential. The criteria for awarding the Blue Angel include:

the efficient use of fossil fuels
alternative products with less of an impact on the climate
reduction of greenhouse gas emission
conservation of resources.

Once approved, eco-labeled products are reviewed every two or three years to reflect state-of-the-art developments in ecological technology and product design.

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Nordic Swan
In November 1989, the Nordic Council of Ministers adopted a measure to implement a voluntary, positive co-labeling scheme in the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Denmark). The objective of this eco-labeling was to provide information to consumers to enable them to select products that are the least harmful to the environment. Nordic Co-labeling follows the ISO 14024 standard: "Environmental labels and declarations - Guiding principles".

The criteria for co-labeling include requirements for the composition of the product, construction, materials, chemicals, marking of parts, waste disposal, recycling, energy consumption, noise level, ergonomics, electromagnetic fields and safety of use. The criteria have been fixed taking into account the environmental load during the whole life cycle of the product and the principles of the scheme for recyclable products (DfR - Design for Recycling).

As with other products carrying the Swan label, main criteria for computers include attention to the product's impact on the environment from the raw material to waste. The product must be at least as good as similar products on the market. For the personal computer product group, defined as consisting of a monitor, system unit and keyboard, the criteria focus on:

Power consumption
Design
Plastics and their additives, e.g., flame-retardants
Heavy metals
Recycling of discarded products
Performance properties such as noise level, ergonomics and electrical and magnetic fields.

The label is usually valid for three years, after which the criteria are revised and the company must reapply for a licence. A small number of personal computers have received the label. For more information, search for Swan Labeled products or see the Swan Labeling Criteria.

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Eco-label (EU)
The European Union's eco-labeling program was launched throughout the European Community in 1993 to encourage the manufacture of less environmentally damaging products. The European Union's Eco-label, a flower with the EU's star symbol, is awarded to products that have passed a life cycle analysis including personal computers and portable computers.

The criteria for personal and portable computers focus on:

Decreased energy consumption
Limited use of toxic heavy metals
Limited use of substances harmful to the environment and health
Reduction of the use of natural resources by encouraging recycling
Extended product lifetime through easy up-grades and availability of spare parts
Reduced solid waste production through take-back policy.

Search for EU Eco-label products.

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Other Programs of Interest

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Energy Star, a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, is a voluntary labeling program designed to identify and promote energy-efficient products to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The program provides information about Energy Star labeled computers, monitors, and printers, including criteria and lists of qualifying products.

Design for the Environment (DfE)-The Computer Display Partnership assessed the life cycle impacts of flat panel displays (FPDs) and conventional cathode ray tube monitors (CRTs) by combining Cleaner Technologies Substitutes Assessment (CTSA) and life-cycle assessment (LCA) approaches. Developed under the DfE program, CTSAs evaluate and compare substitute processes, products, or technologies and generate data that allow businesses to make environmentally informed choices. Human and ecological risk, energy and resource use, performance, and costs are evaluated in a CTSA. Learn about other DfE projects.

Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Database-The EPA Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Environmentally Preferable Purchasing web site provides a summary of and links to EPA (e.g., EnergyStar) and other programs related to environmental preferable purchasing of computers and related equipment. This includes summary of voluntary and mandatory standards and guidelines with vendor lists, where available for EnergyStar, the State of Massachusetts, SCS, Blue Angel, EU, TCO, Nordic Swan, SITO, and the UK Center for Sustainable Design.

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Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition
The Clean Computer Campaign, a project of the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, released the 2005 Computer Report Card. Since 2000, the SVTC has issued an annual Computer Report Card, which tracks the progress that computer and electronics companies are making on social and environmental indicators, including materials policy, supply chain management, take back programs, and end-of-life management of their products. The 2004 Computer Report Card is also available.

For more information, see the factsheet: How to Buy Better Computers - Going Beyond EPEAT. SVTC also created Purchasing Guidelines for Environmentally Preferable IT Equipment (PDF) for large purchasers. The guidelines provide purchasers with tools to evaluate companies on their take-back recycling policies, manufacturing processes and worker and environmental protections.

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