Orange Business Services for multinationals
reducing the environmental impact of electronic equipment
Major efforts are currently underway to reduce the environmental impact of the new technologies industry. Their main advocates
are public authorities and the manufacturers themselves.
Today, they are working together to:
> reduce equipment’s
electricity consumption
> increase recycling rates
> decrease the toxicity of certain components that use substances
such as lead, mercury and cadmium.
Some manufacturers are also taking initiatives on their own, for example, promoting
the use of equipment until the end of its life. The aim is to reduce the equipment
replacement rate, which is sometimes considered excessive. Such measures can extend
the life of a traditional desktop PC from four to ten years.
Electronic equipment is subject to restrictive European environmental protection legislation. Here are a few examples:
The implementation of these directives has led each Member State of the European Union to adopt concrete measures. For example, as part of its compliance with the WEEE Directive, France has implemented a €1 eco-tax on computer equipment in 2006. The tax is paid by all market players, from producers to final consumers and the revenues are used to finance recycling by approved organizations.
Growing numbers of consumers are now adopting an eco-responsible approach to shopping. To help them make fully-informed choices, eco-labels have been developed across Europe with the European Eco-label. Initiated by public authorities and manufacturers, eco-labels are official marks of a product’s environmental quality. They aim to encourage manufacturers in all industries to adopt environmental best practices.
Several “general” eco-labels apply to IT in terms of eco-design, recycling, and CO 2 emissions. This is the case for the environmental label Greenguard, which certifies products which produce little CO 2.
Other eco-labels have been developed specifically for ICT:
See www.ecolabelling.org for more information on ecolabels by industry and by region.
increasingly restrictive regulations
Electronic equipment is subject to restrictive European environmental protection legislation. Here are a few examples:
- the RoHS Directive (2002/95/EC) limits the use of hazardous substances in production processes for 8 categories of electrical and electronic equipment
- the WEEE Directive (2002/96/EC) sets regulations for producers and distributors on the disposal of computer and telecommunications equipment, including collection, sorting, processing
- the EUP Directive (2005/32/EC) establishes eco-design requirements for energy-consuming products
The implementation of these directives has led each Member State of the European Union to adopt concrete measures. For example, as part of its compliance with the WEEE Directive, France has implemented a €1 eco-tax on computer equipment in 2006. The tax is paid by all market players, from producers to final consumers and the revenues are used to finance recycling by approved organizations.
certifying “clean” equipment
Growing numbers of consumers are now adopting an eco-responsible approach to shopping. To help them make fully-informed choices, eco-labels have been developed across Europe with the European Eco-label. Initiated by public authorities and manufacturers, eco-labels are official marks of a product’s environmental quality. They aim to encourage manufacturers in all industries to adopt environmental best practices.
Several “general” eco-labels apply to IT in terms of eco-design, recycling, and CO 2 emissions. This is the case for the environmental label Greenguard, which certifies products which produce little CO 2.
Other eco-labels have been developed specifically for ICT:
- life cycle labels, such as Sweden’s TCO, which certifies the environmental quality of IT products by taking into account their entire lifecycle from design to recycling,
- consumption labels, based exclusively on the energy consumption of products, for example, the European and American Energy Star labels.
See www.ecolabelling.org for more information on ecolabels by industry and by region.
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