Greenpeace Report Claims Consoles Are Not Green Enough

Next news
2:20 PM - May 20, 2008 by Jane McEntegart

Greenpeace has issued a report entitled “Playing dirty” in which it claims Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are not making their consoles green enough.

The use of hazardous chemicals or materials in electronics is a widespread and common occurrence. Some of these materials are necessary for the product to work however some can be omitted or substituted for other less harmful materials. Greenpeace recently carried out similar studies into the use of hazardous materials in laptops and mobile phones.

The report states the environmental organization purchased and dismantled a Nintendo Wii, a 40 GB Sony PS3 and an Xbox 360 Elite, in November of 2007. They then analysed several of the internal and external components for harmful or hazardous chemicals, focusing on regulated substances that fall under the European Union’s Restriction of Hazardous Substances. These substances include lead, cadmium, mercury and hexovalant chromium (chromium 6) and certain brominated flame retardants (BFRs). Additional tests were carried out for materials such as PVC the toxic phthalate plasticizers that it commonly contains and beryllium-containing alloys.

The study found that while all of the consoles were within the restrictions within the RoHS, Pthalates (believed to interfere in sexual development in male mammals) were found in both the Xbox 360 and PS3 and Bromine was found in over half of the analysed components (23 out of 42). All three consoles contained PVC-based materials and electrical contact materials from both the PS3 and the 360 contained Berylium however neither of these materials fall under the RoHS.

All three companies have made commitments to eliminate the use of PVC and BFRs in their hardware with Microsoft promising to do so by 2010. Sony have also set the date at 2010 although this is only for its mobile products and doesn’t include any console other than the PSP. Nintendo has yet to announce a timeline for its elimination of PVC ad BFRs.

Related Links

Centre for Environmental Health Sues Apple based on Greenpeace Report.
Click here for the full report on Greenpeace.com

Source : Tom's Hardware

Talkback
Add your comment
lordmetroid 05/20/2008 8:40 PM
Hide
-0+

Whatever... Greenpeace has lost all credibility since the founder jumped the boat in protest of what the organization has become.

Xternal 05/20/2008 9:17 PM
Hide
-0+

*stupid comment* Since when playing on a console kills you omfg they dont have tiny nuclear reactor on them and go chernobyl on you so who gives a fk about what greenpeace thinks...hippies

dirtmountain 05/20/2008 9:21 PM
Hide
-0+

Who cares what that quasi-terrorist group has to say ?

Christopher1 05/20/2008 9:56 PM
Hide
-0+

I have to agree that Greenpeace is a little too extreme for my liking. It seems that EVERYTHING THAT IS MADE IN OUR SOCIETY TODAY... they say is unsafe or has 'chemicals or materials that are dangerous'...... usually however, those 'chemicals or materials' are only dangerous if you BURN the console or are trying to retrieve things from said console without proper protection, like the Chinese do.

vladtepes 05/20/2008 9:57 PM
Hide
--1+

Stupid tree huggers!!

spuddyt 05/20/2008 10:30 PM
Hide
-1+

"why haven't you done your homework?"
"sir, it wasn't my fault - it was forcibly recycled by eco-terrorists!"

LoboBrancoTimido 05/20/2008 10:43 PM
Hide
-0+

Greenpeace is outdated since the 90s.

soloman02 05/20/2008 10:51 PM
Hide
-0+

Screw Greenpeace. When Lead is banned from electronic components (I.E. Solder), the crap depicted at the site below happens. This stuff killed at least one multi-million dollar satellite. It is not known why these whiskers develop, but it is know that Lead SIGNIFICANTLY reduces their occurrence, though they still occur.

http://nepp.nasa.gov/WHISKER/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whisker_(metallurgy)

jimmysmitty 05/20/2008 11:37 PM
Hide
-0+

Well I understand trying to get rid of lead as it is poisonous to humans but correct me if I am wrong, aren't they all about the enviroment and against human waste? Why would something that effects humans mainly really be thier priority?

Hellbound 05/21/2008 12:17 PM
Hide
-0+

I dont care for greenpeace

christian summer 05/21/2008 2:17 AM
Hide
-0+

in other news...green peace members still fly on airplanes, still drive cars that run on gasoline, still purchase and play these video games, and still smoke cigarettes...

stories like these only encourage these monkeys...

-c

Iota6 05/22/2008 12:55 PM
Hide
-1+

"believed to interfere in sexual development in male mammals"?.....LOL
i thought every one knew that gaming did that to male mammal....
....(homo sapiences)?

spiralsun1 05/22/2008 8:53 AM
Hide
-0+

Well, they missed something HUGE. If everyone just had a PC and worked, played games, watched movies on that we would save a lot of resources and electricity.

Comments are closed on this page.

Sponsored links

Ads

Best offers

Ads
All about Miscellaneous
 Latest Miscellaneous articles
The WinFast PxVC1100 Video Transcoding Card: Worth The Price?

The WinFast PxVC1100 Video Transcoding Card: Worth The Price?
The SpursEngine-based WinFast PxVC1100, which centers on the same architecture as the PS3's Cell processor, shows off its ability to accelerate video encoding. But does its performance justify the price? Or is your money better invested in a faster CPU? Read More

  • Which Networking Technology Is Right For Your Home?
    Powerline, MoCA, 802.11 wireless, or conventional Ethernet--which networking technology is right for your home? Netgear sent us product based on all four technologies and we ran them through their paces to help you decide which works best in your home. Read More
All Miscellaneous articles

Newsletters


  • Ask your question about IT issues
  • Post

Partners

Ads

Sponsored links