Activists from Greenpeace today delivered postcards carrying pictures and information about the environmental and human health impacts of Chinese electronic waste to Hewlett Packard employees in Beijing.
The activists wearing boiler suits bearing the words "HP = Harmful Products" urged HP employees to work from within and to call for hazardous substances in computer manufacture to be phased out.
The 'direct communication' came one day after Greenpeace activists hung a large banner bearing a picture of a Chinese girl holding an HP branded keyboard from the Guiyu e-waste yard and bearing the slogan "HP = Harmful Products"' on the company's international headquarters in Palo Alto, the USA.
Guiyu is an electronics waste site in Guangdong Province.
"Greenpeace believes that most HP employees are unaware of how their products become toxic e-waste and pollute the environment in scrapping yards like Guiyu, in China. Armed with information we believe they will ask their managers to stop manufacturing such products," said Zhao Yang from Greenpeace China.
Companies, including LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, Sony, and Sony Ericsson have already committed themselves to eliminating these harmful substances. Along with HP, other laggards include Acer, Apple, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens, IBM, Lenovo, NEC, Panasonic and Toshiba.
"Greenpeace is disappointed with HP's failure to commit itself to the elimination of toxics substances before 1 Dec. 2005, after over 2 years' of dialogue," Zhao added. "HP should catch up with the trend and make a challenging commitment just like other progressive electronics companies".
Greenpeace is calling on all electronic companies to produce cleaner longer-lasting products. Greenpeace further demands they take full responsibility for their products over the whole life cycle and especially when these products become waste.
