Greenpeace activists delivered 500 Philips television sets and 100 pieces of Philips electronic equipment to the company’s headquarters in Amsterdam. The e-waste was obtained from an e-waste trader; this very same e-waste would most probably have ended up on a scrapyard in countries like China, India or in Africa. Without responsible recycling and voluntary take-back systems, when electronic equipment reaches the end of its useful life, most of it ends up in household waste or is exported — often illegally — to the developing world to deal with. When this discarded e-waste is dumped in Africa, or broken up in the informal recycling yards of Asia, it exposes people and the environment to the cocktail of toxic chemicals still being used to make electronic products. Unlike other major electronics companies, Philips has no take-back policies for its end-of-life products unless forced to do so by legislation. Unsurprisingly, Philips has been lobbying hard against legislation that makes companies directly responsible for the costs of recycling and safe disposal of their own products. And, on top of all that, Philips has even publicly stated that it is the customer who should pay. Image Source: greenpeace.org. > Continue.
News selected by Covalence | Country: Global | Company: Philips | Source: Greenpeace
