Nintendo Fails Greenpeace Test

Greenpeace has given Nintendo a failing grade. In the latest edition of the environmental group's Guide to Greener Electronics Nintendo fell at the bottom of a list of 18 electronics companies. The companies were rated based upon their efforts to clean up their products by eliminating hazardous or toxic substances and their efforts to takeback and recycle their products responsibly one they become obsolete, according to Greenpeace. The guide can be viewed on the Greenpeace International website.

For the guide, Greenpeace graded each company using a scale of 0 (bad) to 10 (good). Six editions of the guide have been published since August of 2006. Nintendo became the first company to ever score a zero, the guide's lowest possible score.

Rounding out the bottom were Phillips with a 2 rating, Microsoft with a 2.7, and sharp with a 4.7. Breaking even at 5 were Motorola and Panasonic. Acer received a 5.7 rating and Apple a 6. HP and Nokia shared the honor of achieving a 6.7. Fujita-Siemens, LGE, and Toshiba all got 7's. Greenpeace gave top honors to Lenovo, Dell, Sony, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson - all of which broke the 7 point barrier.

Greenpeace gave its top rating to Sony Ericsson, a 7.7, citing the companies elimination of PVC from its new models. Samsung also received a 7.7, saying the company has made "Big improvements, with more products free of the worst toxic chemicals."

Many of the companies lost points because they failed to properly implement takeback and recycling programs. "Companies shouldn't be under any illusions that Greenpeace won't check up on their claims of green greatness," said Iza Kruszewska, a toxics campaigner for Greenpeace, according to a press release related to the release of the new guide. But eliminating toxins from electronic products was also a necessary step towards ensuring that safe product takeback and recycling programs could be implemented, according to Greenpeace.

Several companies are planning reduce the amounts of PVC and BFRs - two of the toxic substances targeted for elimination by Greenpeace - in some of the product lines. The companies include Apple, Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Toshiba.

According to Greenpeace, the scores provided in the latest guide a based off of public information that can be found on each of the companies websites. Greenpeace also tested some of the companies takeback and recycling programs.

The Guide to Electronics is published every 3 months by Greenpeace. The latest guide was the first one to rate televisions and computer or video game consols.