jen@environmentalleader.com
Hewlett-Packard just released its eighth annual Global Citizenship Report, in which it details its efforts to recycle and reuse along its supply chain.
In 2008, HP made the following strides toward sustainability:
- Recovery for reuse of 3.5 million hardware units weighing 75 million pounds. This is a 16 percent increase over 2007.
- Increase of recycling volume 6 percent to 265 million pounds globally.
- HP joined more than 140 global companies in signing a declaration from the Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change at the Poznan negotiations in December.
- Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 4 percent compared with 2007. Normalized to revenue, the reduction totaled 13 percent.
- HP worked with key suppliers to gather data on energy use and GHG emissions, publicly announcing the emissions of certain suppliers.
Here is a look at HP's internal greenhouse gas emissions for 2008.
HP also continues to adjust its product line to help businesses and consumers save energy. Here are some products introduced in 2008:
- The HP Compaq dc7800 Ultra Slim Desktop — a small enterprise-ready desktop that received a Gold rating by the Electronic Products Environmental Assessment Tool.
- The HP Deskjet D2545 consumes 40 percent less energy than its predecessor and is made of 83 percent recycled plastic material. The printer uses HP 60 ink cartridges, which are made from 50-75 percent recycled plastic including resins from returned HP cartridges.
- The HP ProLiant BL460c G5 server was redesigned to reduce energy use by 25 percent and comply with upcoming Energy Star server guidelines.
HP notes that to date it has recovered 1.71 billion pounds of electronic product and supplies, or almost the total weight of the Golden Gate Bridge. The company says that by the end of 2010 it is on track to recycle 2 billion pounds of products and reuse 450 million pounds.
Despite its progress, HP still faces criticism. Greenpeace International’s latest update to its Guide to Greener Electronics found that HP, as well as other computer makers, won’t meet its promise to eliminate vinyl plastic (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from products by the end of 2009.
Still, CIOs and IT managers view HP as the second-greenest computing choice, slightly behind Dell.
