BESIDE THE GREEN

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Behind the Green Curtain
Big tech companies are going green, but what about the ofF-brand subcontractors that actually make their components?
!Iow much do you care about the ecofriendlinessof your electronics? Would you pay more? Switch to a vendor that's greeiier? More than 50 percent of respondents to a recent Forrester survey claimed to want environmentally friendly products. But of those, only 12 percent—the "bright greens"—were willing to pay extra for them. Nonetheless, going green has a major impact on tech companies. After scrutiny and some negative reports from environmental watchdog groups such as Greenpeace, the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition, and Climate Counts, big tech is expending a lot of effort to market eco-friendly moves to consumers. Many have ramped up their take-baek programs and are making sure products are certified by Energy Star and EPEAT {see the eco-label glossary on page 72). Some have even implemented target dates for phasing out toxic materials. But there is one missing piece to the green puzzle. The original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), such as Apple, Dell, and HP, don't actually do much (if any) manufacturing. Most PCs are merely assembled by those big tech companies. Making components is a job for subcontracted compimies. sometimes called original design manufacturers (ODMs). though how much they design varies widely from product to product. Major ODMs include AsusTek. Foxconn, and Quanta (all in Taiwan). Celestica (Canada), and Flextronics (Singapore). So the vendors can tell you
Three billion units of consumer electronics potentially will become scrap between 2003 and 2010. That's nine gadgets thrown away for every person currently living in the U.S.
>> If Americans recycled 100 million cell phones, we could save enough energy to power 194,000 households for a year.
lustration by Colin Johnson APRIL 2008 PC MAGAZINE
So who ean be trusted? Some experts firmly believe in the positive efforts of the OEMs, According to Nabil Nasr, director of the Golisano Institute for Sustainability at the Roehester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, it is in the best interests of the big tech companies to keep the subcontractors up to high standards because it's good for business. "Companies with a product in the market can't take risks.of components," he says. Dell's own environmental poliey manager, Mark Newton, eoncurs: "Our success in this green movement or in any aspect of quality depends on our interaction with suppliers." Newton believes the subcontractors consider sustainability, recyclability, and phasing out toxic materials a twofold opportunity: to help the environment, sure, but perhaps more important for them, it's a way to earn more business from companies eager to call themselves "the
greenest."—Eric Griffith
AMBER WAVES OF E-WASTE
Much of the tech trash we discard is conveniently shipped to countries like China, India, and Nigeria. But here's a look at the scale of the U.S.'s e-v^^aste and how it could impact us.
FRONTSiDE
they're green, but what about the subcontractors who actually create the produets that bear the brand? The fact that subcontractors generally operate under consumers' radar, in addition to being located in countries with much looser environmental and workplace standards, makes it easy to suspect they might skimp on greenery. There are even rumors of "double manufacturing," where components or entire computers with the same name are completely different for different markets with different regulations. On top of that, the technology industry is largely seif-regulated. The OEMs can send audit forms for subcontractors to fill out, with no real guarantee that the subcontraetor will be forthright. Even some nonprofit watchdogs like Greenpeace assign green ratings based on trust. The subcontractors in question fill out and return a survey voluntarily. "Audits are what they arc, but there's a lot to do beyond audits," says IBM's John
As little as 0.014 gram of mercury is enough to contaminate the fish in a 20acre lake. The 300 million computers that have already been discarded contain enough mercury (about 0.5 gram each) to poison the Great Lakes eight times over.
Gabriel, who serves as chair of the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC, www.eicc.in/o). Many OEMs have signed on to EICC, which details strict guidelines for safe working conditions and environmentally responsible practices. To its credit, the EICC does eonduct on-site audits, as well as awareness programs and training. But joining the organization and abiding by its rules is a voluntary move. There is no single oversight body that inspects everyone in the supply chain. Change is slow in coming, even within the EICC and its member companies. For example, after a recent annual review and open-feedback period, the EICC is poised to include more environmental guidelines in its code. Actually implementing this revision, however, could still take several months. And that's how the EICC wants it. "We don't believe rapid changes to the code are productive," says Gabriel. "It takes time to internalize it and get it to the suppliers."