Greepeace to launch 'Green Ranking' for Indian IT hardware firms

From August, global environmental NGO Greenpeace will start ranking Indian IT hardware firms based on their use of toxic chemicals and electronic waste policies.

While Greenpeace launched a global 'Green Ranking' of IT hardware firms last year, India will be the first country to have a separate ranking.

An IRG Systems (South Asia) survey reveals the total e-waste generated by obsolete or broken-down electronic and electrical equipment in India is around 146,180 tonnes per year.

To begin with, Greenpeace plans to include all the companies in India in the PC and mobile segment. The rankings will be based on the testing of their products at the Greenpeace test lab located in London, according to Ramapati Kumar, team leader, Toxics, Greenpeace India.

"For Indian companies, Restriction of Hazardous Substances (RoHS) will be one of the criteria. We will also take into consideration the precautionary principles a company is putting into practice before they start using any new chemical. They should do proper research and investigation about the impact of these chemicals on human health," said Kumar.

The other criteria would be the willingness of companies to take back electronic wastes and the commitment that the companies exhibit in phasing out brominated flame retardant (BFR) elements from their products. The companies would be accountable if the components they source do not comply with RoHS norms.

Kumar said Greenpeace ranked the companies based on the information available in public domain and on the operational objectives. The ranking helped companies in winning customers confidence.

"People in Europe respect Greenpeace rankings. Our ranking is very dynamic. Companies take notice to our guidelines and wait for our quarterly ranking," he added.

According to the latest Greenpeace 'Green Ranking' report, Chinese PC manufacturer Lenovo tops the list based on its e-waste policies and practice, followed by Nokia and Sony Ericsson. Dell and Samsung rank fourth and fifth, respectively.