Purchasing Power Can Change the Industry
Large institutional consumers of electronics, such as healthcare facilities, colleges and universities, businesses, and local, state and federal government have the ability to leverage purchasing power to drive higher environmental, health and safety and labor standards throughout the electronics industry. Currently, there is little incentive for electronics manufacturers to consider the labor, health and environmental concerns in design, production or end-of-life management of the products they make. By integrating social and environmental values into the purchasing calculus, consumers can lead the way in setting new standards for the industry.
Why demand green products?
Toxics: Thousands of chemicals are used in the production of electronics, and many pose hazards to workers, communities and consumers throughout the product life-cycle. Learn more about toxics in electronics.
Labor conditions: The majority of electronic waste that does get diverted from US landfills and incinerators, upwards of 80% ends up exported to developing countries, dismantled in US prisons or recycled under poor conditions in the US. Those who labor in the global high-tech factories or third world recycling operations experience poor working conditions, little labor protections and virtually no health and safety protection.
Tools For Green Purchasing
EPEAT Tool is a Good Start for Green Purchasing
The US EPA initiated a process to develop the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT). Launched in July 2006, EPEAT is a tool to help institutional purchasers evaluate and select laptops, desktop computers, and monitors according to a list of preferred environmental attributes.
Manufacturers can register their IT products at the bronze, silver, or gold level. (They evaluate their products themselves.) EPEAT has mandatory criteria, which must be met for a product to be registered bronze, and optional criteria that if achieved can yield silver or gold status. Learn more about EPEAT.
The Need to Go Beyond EPEAT
While EPEAT is a significant first step towards responsible electronics procurement, it has some key limitations - particularly the failure to address labor conditions during production and end of life management. EPEAT falls short in the following key areas:
- Limited requirements to eliminate certain hazardous materials
- No requirement to enact takeback policies that safely deal with e-waste
- No requirement to enact occupational health and safety to protect workers
- Weak requirements for responsible recycling
- Weak packaging requirements
Beyond EPEAT Guidelines for Purchasers
ETBC, in collaboration with Health Care Without Harm and Hospitals for a Healthy Environment, has developed additional guidelines to promote higher environmental and labor standards to fill in some of EPEAT’s key gaps. They address occupational health and safety, labor standards, end-of-life management, packaging, and hazardous materials.
What's in the Beyond EPEAT Guidelines?
Here is a snapshot of what you will find in our Purchasing Guidelines for Environmentally Preferable Computers (Beyond EPEAT). You can download our short factsheet, "How to Buy Better Computers" and the complete Guidelines.
Labor Standards
Responsible electronics products must be produced and recycled in facilities that meet international labor standards. The purchasing guidelines recommend buying products from brands with suppliers that meet key standards, including freedom of association, no forced labor, no child labor, protection from discrimination, and a living wage. One way to ensure that these standards are achieved is to purchase electronics produced at SA8000 certified facilities, whenever possible.
Occupational Health and Safety
Manufacturing and recycling workers are often exposed to hazardous working conditions. Electronics products that meet the guidelines must be made and recycled at facilities with high health and safety standards. The guidelines recommend that facilities demonstrate compliance to international standards.
Environmentally Sensitive Materials
Requirements for elimination of environmentally sensitive materials should be pushed beyond what is required by EPEAT. The purchasing guidelines recommend elimination of all halogenated flame retardants, particularly brominated flame retardants (BFRs), and elimination of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) in all applications and replacement of the growing use of mercury in liquid crystal display (LCD) screens.
End-of-Life Management
Recycling programs must have high environmental, health, safety, and labor standards. The guidelines recommend recyclers that do not use incarcerated labor, do not send electronics to solid waste landfills or incinerators (including waste-to-energy operations), and do not export electronics illegally for disposal in developing countries.
Packaging
The purchasing guidelines recommend that products have a takeback program for packaging, that packaging is made from easily recyclable materials such as molded paper and cardboard, and that whenever possible packaging materials are reusable or recyclable. Polystyrene should be eliminated from packaging.
Tools For Purchasers
- Beyond EPEAT Purchasing Guidelines for Institutions PDF or Word
- Equipment EOL Form PDF / Word
- Packaging Takeback Form Word. PDF or Word
- Fact Sheet: How to Buy Better Computers. PDF
