Simultaneous demonstrations at Hewlett Packard’s United States and Chinese headquarters are drawing attention to the company’s failure to adequately address electronic waste (“e-waste), much of which contains toxic chemicals. The demonstrations, organized by Greenpeace, consisted of banner drops reading “HP = Harmful Products,” an orange blimp flying above HP’s headquarters, and a pirate radio station broadcast urging people to contact Hewlett Packard CEO Mark Hurd to demand cleaner products.
Most major electronics companies have failed to address the issue of e-waste, with companies such as Hewlett-Packard, Dell, Apple, and others ranking the worst for their lack of serious attempts at dealing with the problem. Not only do many electronics products contain a variety of toxic chemicals, but most companies participate in a form of environmental racism where e-waste is shipped to Asia and Africa for disposal where it harms the environment after it is processed in the United States by prison inmates. E-waste contains a variety of chemicals that can harm the environment and increase cancer rates including flame retardants used in plastics and circuit boards, solders containing lead and tin, barium and lead in cathode ray tubes, mercury, and beryllium alloys in connectors. The problem has recently drawn the attention of the United Nations Environmental Program who has urged companies to take more responsibility for their waste.
Thus far, efforts targeting the e-waste problem have been slow with activists working towards a mix of regulatory solutions and direct pressure on the corporations generating the most waste. Among the most successful campaigns targeting a specific company has been the targeting of Apple, who has come under fire both for e-waste in its computers as well its omnipresent iPods, which have been called “a time-bomb for our health and environment because of toxic materials that will go into either incinerators or landfills” by environmentalists. While Apple’s CEO Steve Jobs initially responded by saying that Apple was an environmentally responsible company and avoiding the problem, both continued pressure from activists and the reality that Apple’s iPods do contain toxic chemicals forced the company to institute a free recycling campaign for its iPods. Moreover, Apple’s business practices, including working to undermine legislation aimed at reducing e-waste and designing products such as the iMac that discourage upgrading, have made Apple an ongoing target with activists arguing that Apple’s practices are inconsistent with its public relations attempts at portraying itself as a “different” company and their use of people such as the Dalai Lama in ad campaigns.
